A Sèvres Large Biscuit Porcelain Figure of Déidamie, Early 19th Century

John Whitehead, London;

From whom acquired by Aso O. Tavitian, 21 June 2006.

In Greek mythology, Déidamia was the daughter of Lycomedes, King of the Dolopians on the island of Scyros. She gave birth to Pyrrhus after being seduced by Achilles when disguised as a woman and in hiding at her father’s court.

The figure derives from a slightly earlier suite of sixteen figures, originally conceived as part of a table surtout centerpiece for the service Particulier de l’Empereur, also known as the service des Quartiers Généraux, began in 1808 and delivered on 27 March, 1810, on the occasion of the marriage of Napoleon and his second wife Marie-Louise, daughter of Francis I of Austria.

In the preliminary report on the service Particulier de l’Empereur, Brongniart wrote:

"The centerpiece will be entirely in the white porcelain known as biscuit, and consist of sixteen figures and antique objects modeled on pieces in the Musée Napoléon [The Louvre]. It is a design for a centerpiece that I devised last year, and if His Majesty approves it, this will accelerate the execution of this service, since several models for it have already been begun. M. [Dominique Vivant-]Denon has kindly given me advice concerning the choice of figures and other pieces in the centerpiece. As there is no antique group that would be appropriate for the center, we thought that a chariot with two horses drive by a Victory and bearing the Genius of the Arts , identified by the attributes and crowns that it holds, would be a group all the more appropriate because it would recall that it is to victory we owe the most beautiful objects in the Musée Napoleon, and those comprising the centerpiece. There would be no small vases or inconsequential figures in this centerpiece...." (quoted from Préaud, 1998, p. 190, who illustrates a drawing for the surtout by the architect A.T. Brongniart, dated 1809 now in the archives of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.).

Elements of the surtout can be seen in the painting celebrating the feast of the wedding of Napoleon I and Marie-Louise given in the theatre of the Palais des Tuileries on 2 April 1810 by Alexandre Benoit Jean Dufay (1770-1844), now in the Château de Fontainebleau.

In addition to the sixteen figures, the biscuit surtout included the chariot of the Geniuses of the Arts drawn by horses, two antique tripods, two antique candelabra and two seats of Bacchus. The sixteen figures were taken from antiques from Napoleon's Museum.

Two varying models of Déidamia were made. A figure of 'Déidamie No. 2', named so at Sèvres to distinguish it from the present version, is in the Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 29410. It was probably one of twelve figures bought by Jean-Baptiste Watier for George IV from the manufactory on 7 November 1816 (12 Figures d’après l’antique 1er gdeur Prix 75 900 [francs]). A further example of the present figure is in Sèvres, Manufacture et musée national, inv. no. MNC28218, as well as a figure of Melpomène, inv. no. MNC28217.

Related Literature

P. Arizzoli-Clémentel, 'Les surtouts impériaux en porcelaine de Sèvres, 1804-1814', Bulletin des Amis Suisses de la Céramique (May 1976), pp. 3-63.

S. Grandjean, 'Un chef d'oeuvre de Sèvres, le service de l'Empereur', Art de France (1962), pp. 170-178.

S. Grandjean, 'Au Louvre: Un biscuit napoléonien de Sèvres', in Antologia di Belle Arti: Mélange Verlet (1987), no. 31-32, pp. 3-15.

J-P. Samoyault, 'The Imperial Table, Versailles and the Royal Tables in Europe', exh. cat., November 1993-February 1994, p. 197, pp. 202-204.

T. Préaud, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Alexandre Brongniart and the triumph of art and industry, 1800-1847 (1998), pp. 116-117 and p. 190, no 22.