The Sèvres factory

Boom and success

“A soft-paste porcelain factory was set up at Vincennes in 1740; this substitute for true porcelain, the so-called hard-paste porcelain containing approx. 75 per cent of kaolin, was keenly coveted by European governments during the 18th century.  By that time, only the Germans had discovered a kaolin deposit in their subsoil.  Therefore, King Louis XV was highly interested in the Vincennes factory which was transferred to Sèvres in 1756, where special buildings had been erected. 

The brilliant success of the Vincennes-Sèvres factory, favored by royal privileges, was the result of the lucky conjunction of excellent raw materials with professional know-how and taste inspired by modernism.  The models were designed by renowned artists, e.g. François Boucher, royal painter, the first artists invited in 1749.  Giovanni Claudio Ciambellano, called Duplessis père, royal goldsmith, created the majority of shapes from 1748 to his death in 1774. 

From 1752 on, sculptures were deliberately left in biscuit, i.e. without glaze nor decoration, in order to distinguish them from the then fashionable German polychrome sculptures and to give them the cold appearance of marble.  Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who was in charge of sculpture from 1757 to 1766, took an active part in the success of Sèvres biscuit.  In 1759 the King put the young factory under the control of the Crown. 

In 1768, two researchers of the Sèvres factory discovered the first kaolin deposit in France near Limoges.  Hard-paste porcelain is commercialized from 1770 on.

At that time, the style had passed from baroque to neo-classic, a style very much in evidence with allegories and mythological subjects in sculptures, which was directed from 1773 to 1800 by Louis-Simon Boizot, a member of the Royal Academy.  During the French Revolution, the iconography was strongly inspired by new patriotic themes.” 

Sources: Excerpts of texts from the official site of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres

www.manufacturedesevres.culture.gouv.fr

The Limoges factory:

“Since the 18th century, when production started, the notoriousness of Limoges porcelain has developed to such a degree that the name of the town alone evokes the art of porcelain.

Before that date, the history of European ceramics may be considered as a long research undertaken by Europeans to penetrate the secret of porcelain manufacture which was discovered in China during the Tang era.  The fascination it exerted may be explained by the mystery, a long time considered as miraculous, of a clay that becomes, thanks to the alchemy of fire, a white, translucent, brilliant and ringing material.

Although the Europeans were masters in certain arts of conversion by firing, such as glass or faience making, they ignored the key material – kaolin – which confers whiteness, hardness and translucency to porcelain.

It was during the 18th century that exploitable kaolin deposits were finally found in Europe: in 1709 in Germany and later, in 1768, in France at Saint-Yriex-la-Perche near Limoges.  The latter discovery marked the beginning and development of Limoges porcelain.  Under the auspices of Turgot, who was at that time intendant of the Limousin province and saw an interesting source of income for his region, the first factory was created in 1771 and then protected by the Count of Artois from 1774 on.

The decorations currently used for soft-paste porcelain objects, i.e. arrangements of small thrown bouquets of flowers, are also used for the new porcelain.  The lace-type gold brim is often used and frequently combined with a blue line.  The painted shapes are simple and sparingly used.  In 1784, after the repurchase of the Limoges factory by the Royal factory of Sèvres, the shapes and decorations became more elaborate and more refined.

The mark of the factory under the Count of Artois: From 1771 to 1774, it appears that only biscuits had been marked.  From 1774 on, when the factory had been placed under the protection of the Count of Artois, the prince’s initials CD were systematically used until 1796 when the factory was closed.  In the course of manufacture the objects were sunk-marked, and after the decoration had been affixed, the mark received its color, generally red, but sometimes blue.”

www.musee-adriendubouche.fr

The Meissen Factory

As soon as oriental chinaware reached the European markets and the first porcelain had been constituted, Europeans who had been thoroughly fascinated tried to imitate the whiteness and opalescence of the objects imported from the Far East.  The first attempts were made in the 16th century in Florence under the patronage of the Medici and resulted in the manufacture of the first soft-paste porcelains.  Other varieties of soft porcelains are developed towards the end of the 17th century; the most demanded ones had been made in Rouen and Saint-Cloud.

The first serious research work had been undertaken at the Dresden royal court under the reign of August II who employed (and even imprisoned) the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger in order to discover the secret of porcelain making.  With the aid of Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, Böttger succeeded in developing at first a red-colored ceramic material, and in 1709 he announced that he had succeeded to produce “fine white, delicately glazed and painted porcelain”.  This discovery marks the beginning of the Meissen factory that produces high-quality porcelain.  The success of the Meissen porcelain can be largely attributed to the exceptional talent of two creators, the painter Johann Gregor Höroldt (1720-1765) and the sculptor Johann Joachim Kändler (1731-1775) thanks to whom the Meissen porcelain became widely accepted by the European aristocracy and their porcelain production centre became an example for all other factories.  After its destruction during the Seven Years’ war (1756-1763), the Meissen factory reopens in the 1770’s under the direction of comte Camillo Marcolini.  Despite all efforts, Meissen is unable to renew its former success, mainly owing to the competition of other factories.  The Meissen secret has been unveiled in spite of all the precautions taken by its porcelain workers, and the first to exploit it are the Paquier factory in Vienna (1719) and the Vezzi factory in Venice (1720); furthermore, its production is menaced by the products made in Meissen but decorated by goldsmiths of Augsburg.