Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure Group of the Festival at the Chateau (La fête au château) or the Model Fidelity (La fidélité modèle)

François Boucher

Date

1766

Medium

unglazed soft-paste porcelain (biscuit)

Culture

France, Sèvres

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Recognizable porcelain figures and figure groups modeled after contemporary theatrical works produced by the Parisian company Opéra-Comique were produced at the Vincennes factory as early as 1752. This group illustrates a scene from a play credited to Charles-Siméon Favart, Fête au Château (Festival at the Castle), when the gardener Jacquot and his love Colette reunite. The introduction of Sèvres porcelain figures modeled after the Opéra-Comique’s theatrical productions may have resulted from the friendship between François Boucher, designer of many early Sèvres porcelain figures, and Charles-Siméon Favart, director of the theater in 1758.

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