Antique Collecting: Pottery And Porcelain

Antique Collecting: Pottery And Porcelain

Continental porcelain

Page 5 of 8

Paris

Although the French factories mentioned above were situated in or near the city of Paris, there were a number of small ones in addition making hard-paste wares that are known generally as 'Paris Porcelain'. These were all started after about 1770, and some twenty or so different makers came and went between that date and 1830. Straight-sided coffee-cups, with saucers, are frequently found and have neatly painted coloured decoration and gilding. Some of the pieces are marked with the name of the factory stencilled in red, but much is unmarked.

Jacob Petit

A further hard-paste factory was at Fonlainebleau, just outside Paris, and this was bought in 1830 by two brothers, Jacob and Mardochee Petit. They made a great quantity of wares of all kinds, brightly painted and heavily gilt, heavily modelled but decorative in appearance. Clock cases and vases are found commonly, and many bear the initials of Jacob Petit, by whose name the porcelain is known, in underglaze blue.

Eastern France

Several factories were started in the east of France, close to the frontier with Germany. None lasted for any considerable time and, on the whole, their productions are not distinguished. At Strasburg both tablewares and figures were made, and although some of the latter are copied from Sevres models others are original.

Porcelain was made at Niderviller from 1765, and all types of wares were made including some good figures in white biscuit. An unusual style of decorating porcelain practised there achieved some popularity, and consisted of a trompe l’oeil. This took the form of an engraving of a landscape pinned to a piece of wood with well-defined grain, painted carefully on the china in natural colours. Good biscuit figures were made also at Luneville.

Italy

Florence

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries much experimental work was carried on in attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain, which had been brought to Europe by then. Documents record that some of the Venetian glass-makers were making trials, but it is believed that they resulted in only a white glass. Of this Venetian ware a few specimens have survived, and are the subject of continual argument.

By 1575 a method of making soft-paste porcelain had been found in Florence, under the patronage of Francesco Maria de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and this is known in consequence as 'Medici Porcelain'. Of the pieces made between the years 1575 and 1587, when the works apparently closed, it has been calculated that fifty-nine survive. Of these, forty-one are now in museums, four are in private possession and fourteen have disappeared over the years. A plate that had been lost, was rediscovered and sold in London in 1949 for Ł1,100. It is now in an American museum. It may be added that, inevitably, a few forgeries have been found.

Almost all the surviving located Medici porcelain is painted in underglaze blue, and occasionally with additional outlining in dark purple. The mark is usually a large-scale drawing in blue of the dome of Sta. Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence.

Venice

The first factory here was started in 1720 by Francesco Vezzi, it made a hard-paste porcelain varying in colour from grey to white, but encountered financial difficulties and was closed by 1740 or earlier. Tablewares were made, and cups, saucers and teapots are the principal survivors. Most pieces are marked with the name of the city 'Venezia' or the abbreviations 'Vena' or 'Va'. The practice of marking the output simplifies identification, but the mark has been added sometimes to pieces from other factories.

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