Antique 18c FRENCH Louis XV Versailles Ormolu Sevres Porcelain Finger Trays (3)
Item History & Price
Antique 18c FRENCH Louis XV Versailles Ormolu Sevres Porcelain Finger Trays (3)
Exquisite Hand Painted Porcelain~ Two Angels herald the bounty of mademoiselle's harvest ~
~ Possibly Capodimonte ~
Stunning antique ormolu mounted Sevres hand painted porcelain tray set,
with marks for 1800’s of “Crown N France” on the reverse.
May have been used to dip fingers into a lemon water mixture, the handle & stand they sit in has delicate scroll
to emjoy candie...s or hors d' oveuvre's, or to flick ashesduring a card game.
Decorative gilt tooled ormolu stamped rims border these central rectangular painted trays, which stack inside a handled ormolu basket with conch shell formed feet.
Each porcelain tray is hand painted with subtle differences
in expression and posture with 22ct Gold accents.
Crafted with quality design from Louis XV, or possibly Napolian's time.
These trays came from a friends estate in England, being one of their prized possessions, obtained by their expert antique dealer, who insisted these are FRENCH.
I have also been contacted by a Capodimonte collector who swears they are Italian, crafted by Capodimonte (though it doesn't explain the 'France" signature on the back). Either way, they are RARE antiques and simply GORGEOUS!!!!
Excellent condition, with no chips, cracks or repairs, but minor discoloring to the corner of one plate,
and the frame these plates cradle is somewhat mis-shapen with a rim piece
separated from it’s base.
Dimensions in cm:
Ormolu Handled Stand: 9.5cm Height x 9.5cm Length x 8cm DepthSeparate Plates: 9.5cm x 6.5cm
Dimensions in inches: Ormolu Handled Stand: 5”High x 3.75”Long x 3 1/8” DeepSeparate Plates: 3.75”x2 5/8"
SIGNED: Crown, N France
Made in France
CIRCA: 1800
AN EXQUISITE EXAMPLE OF HAND PAINTED
FRENCH PORCELAIN & ORMOLU
Sevres Porcelain traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in Lille, Rouen,
St. Cloud, and Chantilly.It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes
near Paris to form a larger porcelain factory in 1738.
French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour,
took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres.
Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles.
The king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden.
Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain, their soft-paste
porcelain was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colors and glazes
that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were
also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken.
Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed.
The Sevres Porcelain factory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced.
In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contributed to the difficulties.
Only a limited number of European nobility could afford the extravagant prices demanded for such works.
King Louis XV and eventually his heir, the ill-fated Louis XVI, were obliged to invest heavily in the enterprise.
Ultimately, the Sevres Porcelain Factory produced items under the name of "Royal" and thus the well-known
Sevres mark was born.King Louis XV even mandated laws that severely restricted other porcelain production in
France so as to retaina near monopoly for his Sevres Porcelain.
The King even willingly became chief salesman for the finest of his products, hosting an annual New Year's Day showing
for Frenchnobility in his private quarters at Versailles. He eagerly circulated among potential buyers, pitching the merits of ownershipand policing the occasional light-fingered guest. Sevres Porcelain may have indeed given the makers ofMeissen and Dresden a run for their money by the end of the 18th Century but for
the French Revolution. By 1800, the Sevres Porcelain Works were practically out of business due to the
economic devastation of the new French Republic.
About the time when Napoleon Bonaparte named himself Emperor of France (1804),
a new director was named for the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. Alexandre Brongniart, highly educated in many fields,
resurrected Sevres Porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain was eliminated altogether thanks to the earlier discovery of
kaolin near Limoges.For four decades until his death, Brongniart presided over monumental progress for Sevres Porcelain,
catering not only to Napoleon himself, but at last to include the more financially profitable mid-priced market in the
emerging middle class.
Exquisite Hand Painted Porcelain~ Two Angels herald the bounty of mademoiselle's harvest ~
~ Possibly Capodimonte ~
Stunning antique ormolu mounted Sevres hand painted porcelain tray set,
with marks for 1800’s of “Crown N France” on the reverse.
May have been used to dip fingers into a lemon water mixture, the handle & stand they sit in has delicate scroll
to emjoy candie...s or hors d' oveuvre's, or to flick ashesduring a card game.
Decorative gilt tooled ormolu stamped rims border these central rectangular painted trays, which stack inside a handled ormolu basket with conch shell formed feet.
Each porcelain tray is hand painted with subtle differences
in expression and posture with 22ct Gold accents.
Crafted with quality design from Louis XV, or possibly Napolian's time.
These trays came from a friends estate in England, being one of their prized possessions, obtained by their expert antique dealer, who insisted these are FRENCH.
I have also been contacted by a Capodimonte collector who swears they are Italian, crafted by Capodimonte (though it doesn't explain the 'France" signature on the back). Either way, they are RARE antiques and simply GORGEOUS!!!!
Excellent condition, with no chips, cracks or repairs, but minor discoloring to the corner of one plate,
and the frame these plates cradle is somewhat mis-shapen with a rim piece
separated from it’s base.
Dimensions in cm:
Ormolu Handled Stand: 9.5cm Height x 9.5cm Length x 8cm DepthSeparate Plates: 9.5cm x 6.5cm
Dimensions in inches: Ormolu Handled Stand: 5”High x 3.75”Long x 3 1/8” DeepSeparate Plates: 3.75”x2 5/8"
SIGNED: Crown, N France
Made in France
CIRCA: 1800
AN EXQUISITE EXAMPLE OF HAND PAINTED
FRENCH PORCELAIN & ORMOLU
Sevres Porcelain traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in Lille, Rouen,
St. Cloud, and Chantilly.It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes
near Paris to form a larger porcelain factory in 1738.
French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour,
took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres.
Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles.
The king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden.
Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain, their soft-paste
porcelain was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colors and glazes
that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were
also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken.
Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed.
The Sevres Porcelain factory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced.
In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contributed to the difficulties.
Only a limited number of European nobility could afford the extravagant prices demanded for such works.
King Louis XV and eventually his heir, the ill-fated Louis XVI, were obliged to invest heavily in the enterprise.
Ultimately, the Sevres Porcelain Factory produced items under the name of "Royal" and thus the well-known
Sevres mark was born.King Louis XV even mandated laws that severely restricted other porcelain production in
France so as to retaina near monopoly for his Sevres Porcelain.
The King even willingly became chief salesman for the finest of his products, hosting an annual New Year's Day showing
for Frenchnobility in his private quarters at Versailles. He eagerly circulated among potential buyers, pitching the merits of ownershipand policing the occasional light-fingered guest. Sevres Porcelain may have indeed given the makers ofMeissen and Dresden a run for their money by the end of the 18th Century but for
the French Revolution. By 1800, the Sevres Porcelain Works were practically out of business due to the
economic devastation of the new French Republic.
About the time when Napoleon Bonaparte named himself Emperor of France (1804),
a new director was named for the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. Alexandre Brongniart, highly educated in many fields,
resurrected Sevres Porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain was eliminated altogether thanks to the earlier discovery of
kaolin near Limoges.For four decades until his death, Brongniart presided over monumental progress for Sevres Porcelain,
catering not only to Napoleon himself, but at last to include the more financially profitable mid-priced market in the
emerging middle class.
