Vincennes porcelain
Encyclopedia
The Vincennes porcelain manufactory was established in 1740 in the disused royal Château de Vincennes
, in Vincennes
, east of Paris
, which was from the start the main market for its wares.
, whose patron, the duc de Bourbon, had recently died. Notable defectors from Chantilly were the debt-ridden brothers Gilles and Robert Dubois, one a sculptor, the other a painter. When early trial pieces were shown to the marquis du Châtelet, he arranged with Orry de Fulvy, brother of a superintendent of royal buildings, that a factory be set up in the premises of the disused royal château to manufacture a brilliantly white soft-paste porcelain
.
The Chinese manufacturing secrets for porcelain
manufacturing were revealed by the Jesuit Father Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles
in 1712, and openly published in 1735. One ingredient for porcelain was kaolin; the porcelain manufactory of Meißen, near Dresden
, was taking advantage of the first kaolin deposits identified in Europe, but hard-paste porcelain in France had to wait for the first French kaolin, discovered near Limoges
later in the eighteenth century.
Early experiments produced so many imperfect pieces spoiled in the kiln, that debts mounted, in spite of aristocratic encouragement, and the partners, on the verge of bankruptcy, slipped away, leaving the kilns, workmen and the still-born production in the hands of a subordinate, Louis-François Gravant (died 1765). The continued patronage by Orry de Fulvy achieved the first successes on the Paris market about 1745, and further essential capitalization was raised through a consortium of twenty-one progressive-minded tax farmers. The first direct royal support came in the form of a privilege for manufacturing porcelain after the manner of Saxony (Meissen porcelain
), signed by Louis XV, 24 July 1745, in favour of Charles Adam, one of the silent partners. The silversmith Jean-Claude Duplessis was brought in during 1745; he designed vases for Vincennes embodying the robust yet balanced French Rococo
.
Aside from tea wares and dinner services, and decorative vases, often in imitation of Meißen porcelain— "in the style of Saxony, painted and gilded and depicting human figures" the warrant granted by Louis XV
ran— the Vincennes manufactory specialized in making naturalistic flowers, which were incorporated into bouquets or in flower sprays added to cut-glass-hung gilt-bronze chandeliers under the direction of Parisian marchands-merciers
, who alone were permitted to combine the production of so many separate craft guilds. Gifted sculptors were contracted to provide models for table sculptures, and a white, matte "bisque
" ware imitating white marble, was introduced in 1751.
New glaze colors were developed at Vincennes, bleu céleste, a rich sky blue, bleu turquoise, the "Turkish" blue that fixed that color name in European languages, and the dark bleu lapis which might be overlaid with traces of gilded veining that disguised variations in the glaze. Enamel painting was applied over the fired glazes, to be refired at lower temperature, and at Vincennes the refinement of its techniques began to approach that of miniature
s. The Vincennes workshops perfected the art of gilding applied over the already-fired glazes then re-fired at a still lower temperature, to offer luxury wares of a sophistication never before seen in France.
In April 1748, the presentation to the Queen of a vase of porcelain flowers, fully three feet tall, offered a dramatic public demonstration at Court of the manufactory's capabilities, and incidentally reveals the intervention of the Parisian marchand-mercier
, who alone could commission the gilt bronze mount
in which the vase had been set. The duc de Luynes
described the gift:
The young Dauphine ordered a similar vase to be sent to her father, Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony
, the patron of the "Saxon porcelain" made at Meissen.
The unexpected deaths in 1750 and 1751 of both brothers Fulvy created a financial impasse that was resolved when the King stepped in and made of Vincennes the object of royal patronage, though less than a manufacture royale; it continued under the personal patronage of Madame de Pompadour
. The covered vases of the model pot-pourri
Pompadour were designed by Duplessis and made from 1752. The painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier
directed the enamelling workshop from 1751, and the chemist Jean Hellot, author of several works on metallurgy and an Académicien, was put in charge of chemical operations, conducting systematic investigations of clays, glazes and enamel colours.
After 1752, through a Royal Edict, Vincennes was handed a monopoly of polychrome decors, which reduced the scope of other manufactories to some degree.
, west of Paris, until 1759, when, with the enterprise threatening to go bankrupt, the king bought it outright, initiating the career of world-famous Sèvres porcelain, which was a direct outgrowth of Vincennes. In 1757 Étienne Maurice Falconet
was appointed director of the sculpture atelier, when Vincennes officially became a manufacture royale de porcelaine. The procedure of introducing datemarks, and painters' and gilders' marks, which has made a detailed understanding of individual styles of Sèvres possible, was initiated at Vincennes, in 1753.
Porcelain flowers continued to provide the bulk of Vincennes sales: Mme de Pompadour, whose château de Bellevue
was not far from the new site, made lavish purchases of them to decorate her rooms and d'Argenson's anecdote of her receiving Louis XV there in a conservatory furnished in winter with perfumed porcelain flowers among those from the hothouse, is a familiar one; the inventory after her death showed that she owned 46 decorative items decorated with porcelain flowers.
Château de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French royal castle in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb of the metropolis.-History:...
, in Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...
, east of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, which was from the start the main market for its wares.
History
The entrepreneur in charge at first, Claude-Humbert Gérin, established workshops and employed craftsmen from the Chantilly manufactoryChantilly porcelain
Chantilly porcelain is French soft-paste porcelain produced between 1730 and 1800 by the manufactory of Chantilly in Oise, France.-Foundation:...
, whose patron, the duc de Bourbon, had recently died. Notable defectors from Chantilly were the debt-ridden brothers Gilles and Robert Dubois, one a sculptor, the other a painter. When early trial pieces were shown to the marquis du Châtelet, he arranged with Orry de Fulvy, brother of a superintendent of royal buildings, that a factory be set up in the premises of the disused royal château to manufacture a brilliantly white soft-paste porcelain
Soft-paste porcelain
Soft-paste porcelain is a type of a ceramic material, sometimes referred to simply as "soft paste". The term is used to describe soft porcelains such as bone china, Seger porcelain, vitreous porcelain, new Sèvres porcelain, Parian porcelain and soft feldspathic porcelain, and is also used more...
.
The Chinese manufacturing secrets for porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
manufacturing were revealed by the Jesuit Father Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles
Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles
Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles was a French Jesuit priest, who discovered the Chinese technique of manufacturing "true" or hard-paste porcelain through his investigations in China at Jingdezhen with the help of Chinese Catholic converts between 1712 and 1722, during the rule of the Kangxi...
in 1712, and openly published in 1735. One ingredient for porcelain was kaolin; the porcelain manufactory of Meißen, near Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, was taking advantage of the first kaolin deposits identified in Europe, but hard-paste porcelain in France had to wait for the first French kaolin, discovered near Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
later in the eighteenth century.
Early experiments produced so many imperfect pieces spoiled in the kiln, that debts mounted, in spite of aristocratic encouragement, and the partners, on the verge of bankruptcy, slipped away, leaving the kilns, workmen and the still-born production in the hands of a subordinate, Louis-François Gravant (died 1765). The continued patronage by Orry de Fulvy achieved the first successes on the Paris market about 1745, and further essential capitalization was raised through a consortium of twenty-one progressive-minded tax farmers. The first direct royal support came in the form of a privilege for manufacturing porcelain after the manner of Saxony (Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain
Meissen porcelain or Meissen china is the first European hard-paste porcelain that was developed from 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger, continued his work and brought porcelain to the market...
), signed by Louis XV, 24 July 1745, in favour of Charles Adam, one of the silent partners. The silversmith Jean-Claude Duplessis was brought in during 1745; he designed vases for Vincennes embodying the robust yet balanced French Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
.
Aside from tea wares and dinner services, and decorative vases, often in imitation of Meißen porcelain— "in the style of Saxony, painted and gilded and depicting human figures" the warrant granted by Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
ran— the Vincennes manufactory specialized in making naturalistic flowers, which were incorporated into bouquets or in flower sprays added to cut-glass-hung gilt-bronze chandeliers under the direction of Parisian marchands-merciers
Marchand-mercier
A marchand-mercier is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of a corporation under rules codified in 1613.. The reduplicative term literally means a merchant of merchandise, but in the 18th century took...
, who alone were permitted to combine the production of so many separate craft guilds. Gifted sculptors were contracted to provide models for table sculptures, and a white, matte "bisque
Bisque (pottery)
Bisque porcelain is unglazed, white ceramic ware Examples include bisque dolls.Bisque also refers to "pottery that has been fired but not yet glazed...
" ware imitating white marble, was introduced in 1751.
New glaze colors were developed at Vincennes, bleu céleste, a rich sky blue, bleu turquoise, the "Turkish" blue that fixed that color name in European languages, and the dark bleu lapis which might be overlaid with traces of gilded veining that disguised variations in the glaze. Enamel painting was applied over the fired glazes, to be refired at lower temperature, and at Vincennes the refinement of its techniques began to approach that of miniature
Portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...
s. The Vincennes workshops perfected the art of gilding applied over the already-fired glazes then re-fired at a still lower temperature, to offer luxury wares of a sophistication never before seen in France.
In April 1748, the presentation to the Queen of a vase of porcelain flowers, fully three feet tall, offered a dramatic public demonstration at Court of the manufactory's capabilities, and incidentally reveals the intervention of the Parisian marchand-mercier
Marchand-mercier
A marchand-mercier is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of a corporation under rules codified in 1613.. The reduplicative term literally means a merchant of merchandise, but in the 18th century took...
, who alone could commission the gilt bronze mount
Ormolu
Ormolu is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-karat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze. The mercury is driven off in a kiln...
in which the vase had been set. The duc de Luynes
Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes
Charles Philippe d’Albert de Luynes held the title Duke of Luynes from 1712 to 1758. He wrote an important memoir of life at the court of Louis XV....
described the gift:
"M. de Fulvy, who continues to be the director of the porcelain manufactory at Vincennes, had a porcelain vase brought to the Queen, which he presented to her on behalf of the company. Three small white figures, together with a porcelain vase, were mounted on a gilt-bronze pedestal. The vase contains a bouquet of flowers also made in porcelain. M. de Fulvy told me there were 480 flowers in the bouquet. The vase with its pedestal and the flowers stood about three feet high. The bronze mounting alone cost 100 louisLouis d'orThe Louis d'or is any number of French coins first introduced by Louis XIII in 1640. The name derives from the depiction of the portrait of King Louis on one side of the coin; the French royal coat of arms is on the reverse...
, and the porcelain just as much; it is a perfect work of its kind— as much for the whiteness as for the execution of the small figures and the flowers. This manufactory is now superior to that of Saxony for the making of flowers"
The young Dauphine ordered a similar vase to be sent to her father, Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony
Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...
, the patron of the "Saxon porcelain" made at Meissen.
The unexpected deaths in 1750 and 1751 of both brothers Fulvy created a financial impasse that was resolved when the King stepped in and made of Vincennes the object of royal patronage, though less than a manufacture royale; it continued under the personal patronage of Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
. The covered vases of the model pot-pourri
Potpourri
Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses. It is usually placed in a decorative wooden bowl, or tied in small sachet made from sheer fabric....
Pompadour were designed by Duplessis and made from 1752. The painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier
Jean-Jacques Bachelier
Jean-Jacques Bachelier was a French painter and director of the porcelain factory at Sèvres.Admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1752, he founded an art school using his own means in Paris in 1765 for the artisans in the historic collège d'Autun , which survived until the...
directed the enamelling workshop from 1751, and the chemist Jean Hellot, author of several works on metallurgy and an Académicien, was put in charge of chemical operations, conducting systematic investigations of clays, glazes and enamel colours.
After 1752, through a Royal Edict, Vincennes was handed a monopoly of polychrome decors, which reduced the scope of other manufactories to some degree.
Transfert to Sèvres (1756)
In 1756 the Vincennes porcelain factory shifted to new premises at SèvresSèvres
Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.The town is known for its porcelain manufacture, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, making the famous Sèvres porcelain, as well as being the location of the International Bureau of Weights...
, west of Paris, until 1759, when, with the enterprise threatening to go bankrupt, the king bought it outright, initiating the career of world-famous Sèvres porcelain, which was a direct outgrowth of Vincennes. In 1757 Étienne Maurice Falconet
Étienne Maurice Falconet
Étienne Maurice Falconet is counted among the first rank of French Rococo sculptors, whose patron was Mme de Pompadour.-Life:Falconet was born to a poor family in Paris...
was appointed director of the sculpture atelier, when Vincennes officially became a manufacture royale de porcelaine. The procedure of introducing datemarks, and painters' and gilders' marks, which has made a detailed understanding of individual styles of Sèvres possible, was initiated at Vincennes, in 1753.
Porcelain flowers continued to provide the bulk of Vincennes sales: Mme de Pompadour, whose château de Bellevue
Château de Bellevue
The Château de Bellevue was a small château built for Madame de Pompadour in 1750. It was constructed on a broad plateau in Meudon, above a slope overlooking the Seine to the east, but was demolished in 1823 and little remains....
was not far from the new site, made lavish purchases of them to decorate her rooms and d'Argenson's anecdote of her receiving Louis XV there in a conservatory furnished in winter with perfumed porcelain flowers among those from the hothouse, is a familiar one; the inventory after her death showed that she owned 46 decorative items decorated with porcelain flowers.
Further reading
- Tamara Préaud, ed. Porcelaines de Vincennes: les origines de Sèvres, exhibition catalogue, Grand Palais, October 1977 — January 1978
- Sassoon, Adrian, 1991. Catalogue of Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu) 1991 ISBN 0-89236-173-5