The next important factory after St Cloud was that founded at Chantilly about 1725 under the patronage of the Prince de Condé, an enthusiastic collector of Chinese and Japanese porcelains. One distinctive feature of the Chantilly porcelain is its imitation of the Japanese Imari wares of the 17th century, especially those bearing delicate patterns in the Kakiemon style. This imitation was not confined to the decoration alone, but great efforts were made to reproduce the delicious tender whiteness of the original ware, by covering the body of the soft porcelain with a coating of the tin-enamel used by the French faience makers. Similar imitation of the Kakiemon style of decoration became the rage all over Europe, and was largely followed at Meissen and in England as well as in France; but no European imitations equalled those of the famous Chantilly ware.
| Lille and Chantilly Potters’ marks. |
Other porcelain factories were started at Mennecy-Villeroy and at Lille, but the most important French factory was that founded at Vincennes about 1740, not only because of the many beautiful pieces produced there, but also because the works was taken under the direct patronage of the king in 1753 and was transferred to Sèvres in 1756, becoming ultimately the most important porcelain factory in Europe.
Fortunately we have documentary information of the exact composition of the artificial porcelain (pâte tendre) of Sèvres, and a brief account of its manufacture will serve to explain how all the glassy porcelains of Europe were made. The potter commenced by preparing a glass or frit, melting together pure sand, alum, sea-salt, gypsum, soda and nitre. The clear portions of this frit were powdered and washed with boiling water, and the working clay was compounded by adding to such powdered frit a small quantity of chalky clay or marl and sometimes pure chalk as well. This mixture was ground in water until the fluid was as fine as cream, and it was then boiled to a thick paste which was so little plastic in itself that black soap or parchment size was added to it to give it enough plasticity for the workman to be able to shape it. Vases and other pieces were made from this paste by pressing cakes of it in plaster moulds of considerable thickness. After pressing, the pieces were dried and were then either turned on a lathe or rubbed down with sand-paper to reduce them to sufficient thinness; while handles, spouts or other ornaments in relief were applied with a lute of slip, as is customary with every other species of pottery. The fragile objects were then fired into what is known as the “biscuit” condition; the most difficult part of the whole process. During this firing the pieces frequently went out of shape because of the excessive shrinkage of the material and its tendency to soften as it approached the melting point of the frit. Consequently an elaborate system of “propping” the pieces had to be resorted to, and even then a very large proportion became deformed. When the porcelain was drawn from the oven after the first firing, the supports were removed and the pieces were rubbed with sand to clean the surface, and were then coated with glaze by sprinkling with a brush; the glaze being a fusible glass very rich in lead. The glaze coat was melted by refiring the piece at a lower temperature; and it was frequently necessary to repeat this process several times in order to get a perfectly even and brilliant result. The difficulties of such a process were enormous, and it was only by the financial support of wealthy patrons, or of the state, that such a method of manufacture was ever carried on for any length of time. At its best the material is an exceedingly beautiful one, lending itself especially to decoration in on-glaze colours, and the pieces produced at Vincennes and at Sèvres, between 1745 and 1770 or thereabouts, form a distinct class by themselves. Skilful chemists like Hellot and Macquer were employed to direct the operations, and many beautiful ground colours, such as the famous gros-bleu, bleu de roi, rose Pompadour, pea-green and apple-green were invented.
| Fig. 52.—Sèvres vase, pâte tendre; green body and gilt imitation mounting. (Victoria and Albert Museum.) |
Sèvres Porcelains.—The forms of the Sèvres porcelain are exceedingly varied. Many of the older shapes were designed by Duplessis, the king’s silversmith, and, as is perhaps natural, are more proper to metal than to pottery; but the French glassy porcelain is such an artificial material in every respect that such a point should not be strained too far. Owing to the want of plasticity in the paste the pieces were always made in moulds of plaster of Paris, while in many cases they were moulded in separate parts and these united together with metal screws or mounted in bands of chased ormolu. Table services made for actual use were usually painted on a plain white ground with the full palette of on-glaze colours (or enamels) and much rich gilding. The decorative pieces such as vases, candelabra, jardinières, &c., were decorated in a much more sumptuous fashion by covering the greater part of the piece with a ground of one of the rich enamel colours previously mentioned, reserving only panels in white on which delicate miniature-like decorations of the most varied kind were subsequently painted and fired (see fig. 52; and examples of Sèvres, Plate IX.). Such collections as the Wallace at Hertford House, or the Jones Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum, show at once the variety and perfection to which the work attained.
This Sèvres porcelain is entirely devoid of the broad decorative treatment and rich full colour of any of the great kinds of fine pottery or porcelain. Artistically considered, it has no place beside the triumphs of the Chinese or Persian potters, or of the Italian majolists. Its shapes are too formal, and are not sufficiently imbued with a sense of the qualities of the material. The ground colours defy every natural tendency of pottery colour for they are even, flawless and mechanical, with none of the palpitating richness that comes so naturally from the potter’s processes. The paintings, whether of flowers, birds or figure-subjects, are extraordinarily skilful regarded as miniatures, but as examples of pottery decoration they cannot be compared to the swift, apparently careless, brushwork of the great masters of earlier times. So pronounced was the demand of the period for smooth even finish that such ground colours as gros-bleu and bleu de roi, where the colour naturally came varied and uneven, were subsequently decorated with small diapers or lines of gold in the form of œil de perdrix or vermicelle, so as to produce a more regular and even effect. The most elaborate and costly of all the varieties of old Sèvres is what is known as “jewelled Sèvres,” which is richly sown with imitation jewels, such as turquoises, pearls and rubies, closely resembling the real stones. These imitation jewels were in every case set in beautifully chased mountings of gold, and in the museum at Sevres are to be found examples of the punches and other tools used in making these mounts. On account of the enormous expense involved in the production of such costly triumphs of skill, examples of jewelled Sèvres are rare even in the best collections, but the English student is fortunate in the fact that the Wallace collection contains a considerable number of them.
Many reasons—the prestige attaching to a Royal Manufactory, the knowledge that the porcelain was produced regardless of cost, the mechanical perfection of its colours, gilding and decoration, as well as the fact that the glassy porcelain was abandoned
Sèvres Potters’ marks, 1753 and 1772.as too costly and risky after about 1780—have all conspired to raise the prices which modern collectors are prepared to pay for fine examples of vieux Sèvres. It is doubtful whether even the prices paid for paintings by old masters have advanced so rapidly as those paid for Sèvres porcelain of the best period. In the ’seventies of the 19th century it was deemed worthy of remark that a sum of £10,000 should have been paid at public auction for three old Sèvres vases; thirty years later one such piece would probably fetch the same price. It should be added that the extravagant prices now paid for Sèvres porcelain, which is much more a triumph of technical than of artistic skill, have led
