Plate

Manufactory Sèvres Manufactory French
Flower decoration by Pierre-Joseph Rosset French

Not on view

Porcelain decorated with a black ground in imitation of Asian lacquer was produced at Sèvres for about a fifteen-year period beginning in 1790. Furniture decorated with imported black lacquer panels saw a resurgence of popularity in the last two decades of the eighteenth century, and the Sèvres factory's efforts to simulate black lacquer on porcelain were probably stimulated by this renewed general interest in lacquer decoration. Black-ground Sèvres porcelain was decorated with chinoiserie scenes executed in gold, which was often applied in subtle tones of yellow, green, and red. Small decorative highlights were often executed in platinum, and the ability to apply platinum—first mastered by the factory in 1790—may have been an impetus to produce these lacquer-inspired pieces.

[Jeffrey H. Munger, 2015]

Plate, Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present), Hard-paste porcelain, French, Sèvres

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