A Sèvres 'Coupe Réticulée', made for the Comte de Paris, circa 1845

Footnotes

Provenance:
Delivered to the Comte de Paris on 19 November 1845

Le Goût Chinois

In November 1831 Hyacinthe Régnier was paid an advance for initial designs of elements of a déjeuner simply known as 'Chinois'. His inspiration was drawn from the Chinese objects he would have seen in the famous sale of Chinese art of the Parisian art dealer F. Sallé which began on 11 April 1826. This sale contained a section of 'Openwork Chinese Porcelain'. In a description of the pieces it reads: 'The Chinese make a kind of porcelain with openwork designs resembling paper cut-outs. In the centre is a vessel for liquid. This vessel forms one unit with the openwork' (T. Préaud, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory - Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847 (1997), cat.no. 73 and 76).

The Sèvres factory was not the first to attempt these 'double walled' objects, indeed the Meissen factory had made similar technically precarious pieces in the earliest days of its existence, and a large double-walled Doccia coffee pot is in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche di Faenza. But Régnier was the first to successfully adapt the intrinsic Chinese patterns to a modern eclectic taste, and manage the huge technical challenges of firing, in several stages, the very delicate pierced outer wall. Chinese influence began to have a major influence on the decorative arts, and many Sèvres piece were inspired by forms, glazes and decorations of authentic Chinese models. As Tamara Préaud notes (op. cit. p.275) careful scientific examination of Chinese wares also prompted the development of new techniques at Sèvres.

The déjeuner chinois réticulé instantly became a success, and other shapes and objects, ever more ambitious, were realised in this new, exotic taste. The first design for the present Coupe Réticulée was realised in 1842, around the same time Brogniart decided to undertake a chinoiserie cabinet inspired by Auguste Borget's Sketches of China and the Chinese (1842). Brogniart wrote he took care to avoid imitation of Chinese ornament, whereby he meant that the decoration was closely modelled after 'authentic' Chinese examples, a historically correct approach that was quite new at the time. (Préaud op.cit. p. 307).

The original designs for this coupe are kept in the archives of the Sèvres manufactory. Although slightly different, the reticulated walls also show the same stylised lotus flower and foot.

Philippe, Comte de Paris

The present coupe is listed in the Sèvres sales register at 650 livres on 19 November 1845 as follows Livré à Son Altesse Royale Monseigneur le Comte de Paris. Le 19 Novembre 1845. Coupe réticulée, fond bleu (...) décor en or et couleurs dans le style chinois. [delivered to HRH the Count of Paris. 19 November 1845. A reticulated coupe, blue (...) with a decoration in gold and colours, in Chinese style.]
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris (24 August 1838 - 8 September 1894), became the Prince Royal, heir apparent to the throne, when his father, Prince Ferdinand-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, died in a carriage accident in 1842. Although there was some effort during the days after the abdication of his grandfather in 1848 to put him on the throne under the name of Louis-Philippe II, with his mother (Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) as Regent, this came to nothing and the family fled as the French Second Republic was proclaimed.

Philippe married the Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain in 1864, and during their early married life, the Count and Countess of Paris lived at York House, Twickenham. In 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War and the downfall of Napoleon III, they were allowed to return to France, and many of their properties were restored to them. They did not, however, succeed in claiming the throne in a restored monarchy after the fall of Napleon III. In 1886 the family was exiled again returning to England, where they first lived at Sheen House, near Richmond, and in 1890 they moved to the much grander Stowe House, where Philippe died in 1894.