The history of Paris porcelain (known familiarly in France as vieux Paris) began around 1770 and refers not to a single manufacturer, but to more than thirty porcelain sources, based within the City of Paris between the mid-1700s and the end of the Second Empire in 1870. The term was not actually used until the latter part of the nineteenth century. The various Paris artisans, mostly situated in the northeast side of Paris, specialized in adapting the creations of porcelain manufacturer, Sèvres, to bourgeois tastes, while competing with Louis XV’s own Royal Manufactory. Fine Arts Magazine

Left: Pair of vases, France (probably Paris), about 1820. Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels and gilding; ht: 28 ¾”, wd: 12”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Miss Clara Endicott Sears . Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

To minimize competition, the king enacted laws that severely restricted the activities of other porcelain manufacturers, but as the porcelain industry began to have a positive impact on the French economy, Old Paris porcelain manufacturers eventually enjoyed more latitude in their operations. Many Old Paris porcelain artisans also had their own patrons from the French nobility, catering quickly to changing styles and customs. The French Revolution had severely affected the porcelain industry in Paris, with its attacks against the wealthy aristocracy. The result was the proliferation of other factories, whose autonomy allowed them to finally free themselves from the established monopoly held for years by Sèvres.

This pair of ornate mounted vases on pedestals flanked by gilt handles in the form of winged female busts was ordered from Paris in 1820, by Bostonian, David Sears Jr. (1787-1871). They were to decorate his new Boston residence, on Beacon Hill, designed by Alexander Parris in 1819. Today, the building serves as the home of the prestigious, Somerset Club. David Sears Jr. had earlier inherited a tremendous estate from his father, amassed during the China Trade. The vases were later bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1960, by his descendant, Clara Endicott Sears.

While Mr. and Mrs. David Sears were living in Europe between 1811-1814, they spent time in Paris, frequenting the circle of Empress Josephine. There, they likely admired the elegantly mounted porcelains they saw in and around the city. [1] It has been suggested that this pair of vases was formerly “from the possession of the Empress Josephine of France, the wife of Napoleon the First, acquired at the breaking up of her, Château de Malmaison…” [2] However, we know from memorandums from David Sears that he requested from Paris “…two large Porcelain vases to place in the niches—The price limited to 500 francs each.” [3] The association with a pair of vases from Malmaison may have been perpetuated by the 1886, Memoir of the Honorable David Sears, stating that he “ornamented the original doorway of his new house in Beacon Street with a pair of beautiful white marble vases saved from the wreck of Malmaison.” [4]

The model of the MFA vases was most likely made in the factory founded by Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast (1754–1817) and later managed by his sons. Their creations was introduced at the 1819 “Exposition des Produits des Manufactures” and again at the 1823 Exhibition, when King Louis XVIII purchased two of them. [5] According to critics, “the Nast brothers won the highest award at the [Paris] Exhibition of 1819, as well as personal congratulations from Louis XVIII. They had been displaying some outstanding pieces…[including] monumental vases.” [6]

Derived from the Greek amphorae, the elegant antique form of these vases demonstrates the talent and skill of the Nast workshop. Although unmarked, the extensive use of gilding and the richly-painted large reserves depicting pastoral and Classical scenes on are typical of French porcelain of the 1820s when ornamental vases used to decorate mantels became fashionable. [7] The matte and duller gilding of the handles, the lower section of the body, and the stem of the foot is achieved by applying gilding to unglazed porcelain and emphasizes the painted reliefs. The quality of the painted and gilt decoration and the technical feat of execution entirely out of porcelain, without the additional support of bronze mounts for the delicate handles, are all characteristic of the style of the Nast brothers. [8]

Future galleries dedicated to 19th century decorative arts will highlight the MFA’s unparalleled holdings of European ceramics.

by Rebecca Tilles, Contributing Writer

Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate in decorative arts and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has assisted with the exhibitions “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815” (2007) and “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection” (2009). She holds a BA in French and French Cultural Studies from Wellesley College and an MA in European Decorative Arts from The Bard Graduate Center in New York.

______________________________________________________

[1] Milo M. Naeve and Lynn Springer Roberts, A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Institute, 1986), p. 70.

[2] Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America, 1800-1840 (New York: Baltimore Museum of Art and Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 43.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Dernières Acquisitions du Département des Objets d’Art du Louvre 1990-1994” (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1995), p. 262-264.

[6] Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Porcelain of Paris 1770-1850 (New York: Walker, 1972), p. 101.

[7] Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, “Paris porcelain in America,” in The Magazine Antiques (April 1998), p. 554.

[8] “Un Age d’Or des Arts Décoratifs 1814-1848 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux,1991), p. 144-145.