Cleveland Museum of Art

Pair of Plates (Assiettes)

Vincennes Porcelain Factory

Date

c. 1748–51

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration

Culture

France, Vincennes

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Known as “German flowers,” naturalistic floral compositions painted on Meissen factory porcelain in the 1740s influenced the paintings of French and English porcelain factories. At the Vincennes factory in the 1750s, botanically accurate flower paintings were regularly represented. The flowers seen here take inspiration from Meissen, while at the same time representing an early attempt at a distinctly French style of porcelain painting that emphasized bright, clear colors. Though the Vincennes porcelain factory had a royal privilege for gilding as early as 1745, it was not until 1748 that they were able to put this process into practice when they bought the secret to its production from Benedictine monk, Hippolyte Lefleure.

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