A Passion for Sèvres Porcelain: Paul Minter - Friends of Museum & Art Swindon

A Passion for Sèvres Porcelain – a talk by Paul Minter

Over the last decade antique porcelain, like brown furniture, has become almost unsaleable and values have dropped by almost 90%. One factory has however retained most of its value.

Collectors are as passionate as ever. In the 18th century the porcelain made by the French Royal Factory at Sèvres was more valuable than gold. It was the height of artistic and scientific endeavor. Forever linked to the romanticism of the French monarchy, it charted the changing fashions of the late 18th century. Since the 1960s research has led to a greater understanding of how the factory stayed at the top of the market for luxury goods.

It was one of the truly great French brands of all time and is collected avidly all over the world. Paul has been a collector for almost 50 years. Searching for pieces to add to the collection and researching potential acquisitions has made him truly knowledgeable. He brings the subject to life and will bring pieces of precious porcelain to complement the photos in his presentation.

If you think that old china is dull….prepare to be amazed!

A Passion for Sevres Porcelain - assorted pieces of china

A Passion for Sèvres Porcelain – assorted pieces of china

About Sèvres

According to Britannica:

Sèvres porcelain: French hard-paste, or true, porcelain as well as soft-paste porcelain (a porcellaneous material rather than true porcelain) made at the royal factory (now the national porcelain factory) of Sèvres, near Versailles, from 1756 until the present. The industry had been earlier located at Vincennes.

After 1756, Meissen declined from its position as the arbiter of fashion and Sèvres became the leading porcelain factory in Europe.

It’s possible that the patronage of Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour comprised a major contributing factor to it success.

It was through her influence that the company moved from Vincennes to Sèvres, where she had a château. And through her that some of the foremost artists of the time, such as the painter François Boucher and the sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet (who directed Sèvres modeling between 1757 and 1766), became involved in the enterprise. It was after her that rose Pompadour was named in 1757. This was one of many new background colours developed at Sèvres, one of which, bleu de roi (c. 1757), has passed into the dictionary as a universal term.

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