Earliest European Porcelain.
The manufacture of
fine porcelain in Europe was not achieved until four hundred years after
Portuguese and Dutch travellers first returned with Kaolin or ‘hard’ porcelain
from China. In 1673 a potter of Rouen in France, Louis Poterat, created the
first 'soft' porcelain. Poterat established Rouen as the centre of the French
ceramic industry with the beautiful style of earthenware we call Faience.
Histoire des
Faiences de Rouen (The
History of the Faience Porcelain of Rouen) by Eugene Delaroque was published in
Paris in 1870, to show the finest designs of the milky white translucent Faience, with its typical
soft-coloured ornamentation of French-style foliated patterns, and designs in imitation
of the old Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The colour-printed lithographs
produced in Amiens by Ris-Paquot portray the opaque ivory-tinged colours of
Faience beautifully. The patterns of blue and white, soft-toned red, blue and
white, and those with the Asian-style decoration, are the most distinctive Faience
styles.
Conversion of base metals to ‘gold’.
In Germany, the
origin of soft porcelain is controversial. When it was rumoured that alchemist
Johann Friederich Bottger was experimenting with converting base metals to
gold, King Augustus II detained him in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. In 1704
Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus was appointed his controller and worked with
Bottger. Instead of gold, in 1709 the first Dresden porcelain was manufactured.
It is usually Bottger who is credited, though some believe documentation
indicates Tschirnhaus was responsible. In any case, the King protectively established
a factory inside the walls of Albrechtsburg castle in nearby Meissen.
The French have
always been recognized for stylish objet d’art, but the popularity of Dresden
porcelain from Saxony inspired the French to greater efforts in making finer
porcelain. New factories sprang up around France – at Lille in 1711, Chantilly
in 1725, and at Mennecy around 1735. The porcelain developed at Chantilly, with
its finer enamel glaze, soon gained greatest recognition.
Gilles and Robert Dubois, duplicitous employees from Chantilly,
persuaded the brother of the Comptroller-general of Finance in France, Orry de
Fulvy, to establish a factory in 1738 at the old Chateau of Vincennes. Ignominious
departure followed their unsuccessful endeavours, and fellow-worker Louis-Francois
Gravant was left to develop the experiments of the brothers. In 1748, a
new Comptroller-general of Finance, Count d’Arnouville, with intellectual
benefactor, Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, recommended Louis XV
extend his patronage of the factory at Vincennes. In 1756 the factory was established at
Sevres, between Paris and Versailles – closer to the royal residence.
Louis XV decreed that the soft porcelain of Sevres was Manufacture
Royale de la Porcelaine de France, so it became known as the Royal
Porcelain of France. The Director of the Academy of Sciences in Paris,
Monsieur Jean Hellot, was appointed to manage closely all aspects of porcelain
manufacture. Duplessis, a skilful artist and Court Jeweller, was commissioned
to design the forms and supervise their creation. Painting and gilding was
supervised by enamel painter, Mathieu, - and later by Bachelier. The result was
the exquisite porcelain simply referred to as Sevres. During the twenty-year exclusive royal contract and monopoly in the
production of fine porcelain in France, the deep colours and fine glazes from
the Sevres factory established a reputation across Europe for the most superior
of all porcelain.
The luminosity of the rich colours and gilding of Sevres porcelain is beautifully
represented in colour-printed lithographs by Claude Gillot. To illustrate
the finest Sevres porcelain manufactured during the glory years of production
in the 18th and 19th centuries 'The Soft Porcelain of Sevres' Le Porcelaine Tendre de Sevres by
Edouard Garnier was published circa 1890 in Paris, London and New York. These
are still the most magnificent illustrations ever done of porcelain. Hung on the wall with
elegant framing these original antique prints can provide even greater impact than individual pieces of
fragile porcelain, are less expensive, and easier to look after! You will find a great selection on our website at http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-24-porcelainartifacts.aspx