The Venetians were the first to bring porcelain to Europe from the East, early in the 14th century. “Porcellana” was composed of white natural clay. Both the Portuguese and the Dutch brought considerable quantities of Chinese porcelain to Europe. Although it was known that Kaolin or “hard” porcelain from China, was composed of treated white clay, the ability to manufacture any kind of porcelain in Europe was not achieved until the beginning of the 18th century.
Bottger manufactured the first ‘true’ porcelain after suitable kaolin clay was found at Aue in Germany in 1709. Generally, “hard” porcelain is created by mixing water with alumina (white clay) and silica (often seen in grains of quartz or sand), to form a paste. The composition of “artificial” or “soft” porcelain, varied with the manufacture of each production style. “Soft” porcelain indicates firstly that the porcelain cannot resist as high a temperature as “hard” porcelain, and secondly that the “soft” glaze of the porcelain can be scratched more easily.


The creation of the first “soft” porcelain is attributed to Louis Poterat, sieur de Saint-Étienne, a potter of Rouen in France. The porcelain factory at Saint Cloud, using Poterat’s ideas was certainly more prominent, but Poterat went on to produce the beautiful style of earthenware porcelain we now know as Faience – the production of which established Rouen as the centre of the French ceramic industry during that time.


Original lithographs, illustrating the finest of Faience porcelain, were printed in colour by Ris-Paquot in Amiens, for Histoire des Faiences de Rouen published in Paris circa 1870 by Eugene Delaroque. Faience porcelain was soft-coloured, warm milky white, and very translucent, traditionally decorated by foliated patterns and floral designs of typical French style, or ornamented by coloured designs in imitation of the old Chinese and Japanese porcelain.


In 1717, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, had established a Porzellansammlung (porcelain palace) - later renamed Japanisches Palais - at Dresden on the Elbe River in GermanyWithin two years it was filled with Chinese and Japanese porcelain and the first Meissen porcelain to be manufactured. Johann Friederich Bottger managed the factory and was responsible for producing the earliest White Saxon porcelain.


The French were renowned for all styles of objet d’art, but the popularity of Dresden porcelain from Saxony inspired the French to greater efforts in making finer porcelain. New factories around France attempted to imitate Faience porcelain – at Lille in 1711, Chantilly in 1725, and at Mennecy around 1735.


The porcelain developed at Chantilly under the protection of royalty in the guise of Louis-Henri, Prince of Condé, soon gained greatest recognition. The enamel or glaze acquired a particularly fine delicacy of tone and harmony of colour. Aiming to duplicate its fine porcelain, two Dubois brothers left Chantilly, and attempted to use the information they had acquired there; persuading the brother of the Comptroller-general of Finance in France, Orry de Fulvy, to establish a factory in 1738 at the site of the old riding school of the Chateau of Vincennes. With Orry de Fulvy’s lack of skill in both management and financial administration, the factory at Vincennes was only able to proceed with regular financial support from King Louis V. The Dubois brothers’ efforts were unsuccessful and they left in disgrace. Fortunately, one of their employees, Gravant, having studied their experiments, was able to develop the manufacture process further.


In 1748, a new Comptroller-general of Finance, Count d’Arnouville, together with Louis XV’s mistress and intellectual benefactor Madame de Pompadour, recommended Louis XV to extend his patronage of the factory at Vincennes. The Director of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Monsieur Jean Hellot (1685-1766), was appointed to closely manage all aspects of the manufacture of the porcelain. Duplessis, the Court Jeweller, a skilful artist, was commissioned to design the forms and supervise their execution. The painting and gilding was supervised by enamel painter, Mathieu, - and later by Bachelier who created more original and stylish designs. The result was the exquisite porcelain we know today as Sevres.


Extensive development of the manufacture of Sevres necessitated larger premises than those available at Vincennes. To bring the factory closer to the royal residence, it was established between Paris and Versailles at Sevres, in 1756. The problems of Vincennes were soon forgotten, and Louis XV decreed that the soft porcelain “pate tendre” of Sevres was to assume the name of Manufacture Royale de la Porcelaine de France. It became known as the Royal Porcelain of France. During a twenty-year exclusive contract and monopoly in the production of fine porcelain in France, the deep colours and finest glazes from the Sevres factory established their reputation across the whole of Europe for the most superior of all porcelain.


Original chromolithographs (many heightened with gold) by Gillot, show the exquisite luminosity, and the richness of colour and gilding of Sevres porcelain. These lithographs represent 250 watercolours of the finest examples of Sevres porcelain (many now in famous collections around the world), selected from the factory’s glory years of production during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for Le Porcelaine Tendre de Sevres by Edouard Garnier, published in Paris in 1891 by Maison Quantin.

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