These vases were masterfully executed after a design by Jean-Charles-François Leloy: the use of warm colours contrasting the white background thereby creating visual tension further suggested by the convex form and scrolled as handle, as well as the concave appearance of the decoration is remarkable even today. They are certainly a splendid example of how the Sèvres factory remained at the forefront of European ceramic production throughout the 19th century, with its vast, diverse and immensely creative production.

Vase ‘Jasmin’

With its cylindrical and slightly flared lip, the form of this vase was known as 'Jasmin'. Some of these vases are recorded in public collections, many decorated after designs by Leloy, a few after Antoine-Gabriel Willermet. For example, there are several pairs in the collections of the Château de Fontainebleau (inv. no. F 543.1/2; F 690C[1]; PHF 1991-0123-A), see Yves Carlier’s article ‘Sur l’utilisation des vases de Sèvres au Palais de Fontainebleau” (in Antoinette Fäy-Hallé, et. Al. (ed.), Les Vases de Sèvres XVIIIe-XXIe siècles, Éloge de la virtuosité, Dijon, 2014, pp.164-169).

The Sèvres factory at the time King Louis-Phillipe

Sèvres is celebrated for the quality of design and execution; always catching the public’s imagination by creating wares in the latest fashion. The factory, which had been founded in the town of Vincennes in 1740 and then re-established in larger quarters at Sèvres in 1756, became the preeminent porcelain manufacturer in Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Louis XV had been an early investor and became its sole owner in 1759. However, due to the upheavals of the French Revolution, the factory did not remain a Royal enterprise and lost much of its clientele.

The appointment in 1800 of Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847) as the administrator of the factory until 1847 marked a profound shift in the factory’s fortunes. Trained as both an engineer and a scientist, Brongniart was both brilliant and very capable. Much of the factory’s output during Brongniart’s tenure reflected the prevailing Empire taste and the more elaborate Restauration style of the second quarter of the 19^th century. A great patron of Sèvres, King Louis-Philippe of the French (r.1830-1848) took a keen interest in the output of the factory then and commissioned numerous items for his residences and as gifts.

Jean-Charles François Leloy (1774-1846)

Jean-Charles-François Leloy was a respected designer and ornemaniste at Sèvres between 1818-1844, and a leading creative force under the direction of Brongniart. The design of the present vases is characteristic of his taste in the 1830s with a more restrained approach than his later work. His use of grisaille panels in a trompe l’oeil style, a simple palette, highlighted gilding and a plain ground typifies this early style. His work was designed in harmony with interior decoration and textiles of the time; when compared to the designs of contemporaries such as Jean-Baptiste Amédée Couder (1797-1864) there are striking similarities.[2] Leloy was also the designer of the famous "Clodion" vases that are now kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris (inv. no. OA11340; OA11341). For a discussion of his work see Anne Perrin-Khelissa, “Pour Leloy, dessinateur d’ornements et de formes à la manufacture de Sèvres entre 1818 et 1844”, see Antoinette Fäy-Hallé, et. Al. (ed.), Les Vases de Sèvres XVIIIe-XXIe siècles, Éloge de la virtuosité, Dijon, 2014, pp. 146-153.

[1] Illustrated in Antoinette Fäy-Hallé, et. Al. (ed.), Les Vases de Sèvres XVIIIe-XXIe siècles, Éloge de la virtuosité, Dijon, 2014, p.169.

[2] Bernard Chevallier, Saint-Cloud: le palais retrouvé, Paris, 2013, p.120 for the design of a pelmet.