Fine and rare French Porcelain lithographs.

Venetians, Portuguese and Dutch all brought Chinese porcelain to Europe. Although it was known that Kaolin or “hard” porcelain from China, was composed of treated white clay, the ability to manufacture any kind of porcelain in Europe was not achieved until the beginning of the 18th century. Bottger manufactured the first ‘true’ porcelain after suitable kaolin clay was found at Aue in Germany in 1709. 

“Hard” porcelain is created by mixing water with alumina (white clay) and silica (often seen in grains of quartz or sand), to form a paste. The composition of “soft” porcelain, varied with the manufacture of each production style. “Soft” porcelain indicates firstly that the porcelain cannot resist as high a temperature as “hard” porcelain, and secondly that the “soft” glaze of the porcelain can be scratched more easily.

The creation of the first “soft” porcelain is attributed to Louis Poterat, sieur de Saint-Étienne, a potter of Rouen in France who produced the soft-coloured, warm milky-white earthenware porcelain we now know as Faience of Rouen – the production of which established Rouen as the centre of the French ceramic industry during that time. Faience porcelain was traditionally decorated by foliated patterns and floral designs of typical French style, or ornamented by beautiful coloured designs in imitation of the old Chinese and Japanese porcelain.

Original lithographs illustrating the finest Faience porcelain were printed in colour by Ris-Paquot in Amiens, for Histoire des Faiences de Rouen published in Paris circa 1870 by Eugene Delaroque. 

Around 1719 at Dresden in Germany, Johann Friederich Bottger managed the factory and was responsible for producing the earliest White Saxon porcelain, Meissen. The French were renowned for all styles of objet d’art, but the popularity of Dresden porcelain from Saxony inspired the French to greater efforts in making even finer porcelain. New factories around France attempted to imitate Faience porcelain – at Lille in 1711, Chantilly in 1725, and at Mennecy around 1735. The porcelain developed at Chantilly under the protection of royalty soon gained greatest recognition. There, the enamel or glaze acquired a particularly fine delicacy of tone and harmony of colour, but the factory was only able to proceed with regular financial support from King Louis V. 

In 1748, in France, the Comptroller-general of Finance, Count d’Arnouville, together with Louis XV’s mistress and intellectual benefactor Madame de Pompadour, recommended the King to extend his patronage of the factory at Vincennes. The Director of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Monsieur Jean Hellot (1685-1766), was appointed to oversea all aspects of the manufacture of the porcelain. Duplessis, the Court Jeweller, a skilful artist, was commissioned to design the forms and supervise their execution. The painting and gilding was supervised by enamel painter, Mathieu, - and later by Bachelier who created more original and stylish designs. The result was the exquisite porcelain we know today as Sevres.

Extensive development in the manufacture of Sevres necessitated larger premises. To bring the factory closer to the royal residence, it was established between Paris and Versailles at Sevres, in 1756. Louis XV decreed that the soft porcelain (pate tendre) of Sevres was to be named Manufacture Royale de la Porcelaine de France, so it became known as the Royal Porcelain of France. During a twenty-year exclusive contract and monopoly in its production, the deep colours and finest glazes from the Sevres factory established a reputation for the most superior of all porcelain.

The exquisite luminosity and the richness of colour and gilding of Sevres porcelain is shown in the beautiful original colour-printed lithographs by Gillot, to represent a selection of the best examples of Sevres porcelain from the factory’s glory years of production during the 18th and 19th centuries, for Le Porcelaine Tendre de Sevres by Edouard Garnier, published in Paris circa 1890 by Maison Quantin.

Select from the Antique Print Club-house at Neranwood behind the Gold Coast in Australia, or online at http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-24-porcelainartifacts.aspx