Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure Seated on a Lion

Chantilly Porcelain Factory

Date

c.1740–45

Medium

Tin-glazed soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Culture

France, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Exotic animals were highly coveted symbols of status and wealth. The practice of housing them in a centralized complex was popularized by French King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles. This lion, along with other animal figurines produced at the factory, may have been modeled after living examples housed in the menagerie established by Louis Henri, duke of Bourbon, prince of Condé, and founder of the Chantilly porcelain factory. The duke of Bourbon’s menagerie was recorded in the dedication to Jean-Antoine Fraisse’s Livre de Desseins Chinois (Book of Chinese Drawings), a book that documented the decoration on the duke’s collection of Asian porcelain, lacquer, and textiles.

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