Meet Jean-Jacque Pierre, an 18th century Sevres artist.

I always enjoy researching a piece of genuine Sèvres porcelain; it comes to life in a way that few other 18th century factories do, due to the extensive records kept at the factory, and the clues placed on the porcelain itself.

This superb plate with green ground has companions in the British Museum, the Quirinal Palace, Rome, and the Pitti Palace, Florence.

The mark is the crossed L's for Louis, with the date letter O for 1767, and an artist's mark - P'

This is the artist Jean-Jacques Pierre II, who happens to be one of the artists preserved in a group of sketches made from the life, preserved in the Sèvres archives.... Here he is!

Another clue is the inscribed initials in the body. These are the mark of the workman who made the piece, and a comprehensive list has been put together of the dates of pieces they worked on.
Here is the mark:

and here is the listing of the mark, referring to pieces made in 1770. Unfortunately, there are very few formers names recorded, compared to the artists, so we cannot name them.

So while there are a huge number of pieces of mock Sèvres out there, and pieces with later decoration, there is a way of using the clues above to verify the authenticity of a piece.
First, date it by the date letter. ('A' is the 1753 code, and only applies to a very specific group of styles made in such early years. It is also the most faked mark.) In this case, we have 1767 as the date.
Secondly, date the artist. He MUST be working at the works during the year the piece dates to! In this case, Pierre commenced work in 1763 and continued until 1798, so a 36 year career at Sèvres which includes 1767, and so reinforces the authenticity of this piece.
Thirdly, the workman's mark inscribed into the piece should be traceable, with hundreds recorded, and the records include the date range from year mark on the same piece. This date range should cover or come very clear to the date of the piece in question: in this case, 1774 in the recorded example is comfortably close to the 1767 date.
One final clue is well known to the fakers of all ages, and that is the 'dip hole' in the rim of the underside.

This is an artifact of the quality production at Sèvres: it is the only point touching in the kiln for glaze and colour firing, as a means of limiting any kiln flaws. It was observed on genuine pieces by the copy makers, who went to great lengths to place them in their own footrims- one example I have has 4 on one plate! However, the reason for the hole was perhaps unknown, and unused, and so will appear different in an original.
This reason was the high- tech firing method, which involved a 'tree' of metal arms in the kiln, with upturned spikes on their branches; this spike was the hanging point for the plate while firing. As a result, small flakes of metal oxides were often fused from the tip into the hole in the footrim, and examination under a glass should show a characteristic trace of this fascinating firing method. It was a difficult technique which was most probably beyond the abilities of the later fakers- or more probably, beyond their knowledge.

So with the positive answer to the above questions, we can conclude that this is a genuine Sèvres piece from 1767, painted by Pierre.

His painting was superb, his flowers and fruit comparable to the best factory artists.

This superb plate is now available at Moorabool Antique Galleries, as part of our stock.

A bowl with a dashing tale to tell....

This rare large pearlware bowl by Spode, circa 1815, has an interesting tale to tell.

Large Spode Pearlware salad bowl, printed in blue with a large version of the Boy & Buffalo pattern, within a moth & trellis border, the outer panels with smaller versions of the same pattern.
Paper label to base reads: Part of the Leeds ware Service, Presented to the Marquess of Anglesey, commemorating his return from the Battle of Warterloo, bought at Anglesey Castle sale October 1904
Circa 1815

Field Marshal Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG, GCB, GCH, PC (17 May 1768 – 29 April 1854) is best known for his role in the Battle of Waterloo, where he was the second in command under Wellington. His charge with the heavy cavalry was a critical point in the historic victory of the day.
The Earl of Uxbridge was not Wellington's first choice at the time of the Waterloo campaign, perhaps because his rather dashing style did not win favour with the Duke; also an earlier elopement with Wellington's sister in law had left a quite understandable residue of animosity. On 18 June 1815, however, he distinguished himself time after time and had at least eight horses shot under him. At the end of the battle, while riding next to Wellington, his right leg was hit by grapeshot, leading to the memorable exchange as he said "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" to which Wellington replied "By God, sir, so you have!"
His leg was amputated above the knee, without any medication, and he went on to have a long military and political career - with one leg. His leg outlasted him, being kept as a souvenir by the owner of the house where the amputation was done, where it survived until the 1860's as a must-see for the popular Battle of Waterloo tourists.

(Info sourced from Wikipedia pages)

I wonder if the Marques ever looked at the boy on the buffalo on his fine Spode service, and thought of those splendid days campaigning on horseback.....
Provenances like this are always problematic, as associating a piece with a famous person is an easy way to increase the price; however, the date on this service is spot on for the supposed date of presentation - 1815 - I wonder who did the presenting? As pottery, it would not have been the most expensive purchase, unlike Wellington's vast rewards from the people of London, including the famous Sevres Egyptian Service..... Something a little more basic, like his subjects on his estates, perhaps?

This rarity will be released for sale in our 2011 exhibition in Geelong, to be held in April.

Something familiar....

Cataloguing again!
This is a rarity for the pottery fanatics-
A Liverpool delft tile, printed by Sadler with a peasant scene. It has a distinct border which dates it to the 1758-61 period.

The scene is very funny, and very familiar (I have twin 4 year olds and a newborn baby).....

I'd be the man at the right, looking away slightly queasy....!

Sadler was an interesting character. Born into a printing family in Liverpool, he served his apprenticeship with his father before setting up his own printing business in one of dad's houses in 1758. He was most probably aware of the hi-tech development of printing onto porcelain, which had been achieved in the London region at the Bow and Vauxhaul factories around 1755. He teamed up with an employee of his fathers, Guy Green, and in 1756 applied for a patient on the process. The trouble was, there were three other patients for the protection of the same process already applied for, in 1751, 1754, and 1755.....
So he made sure in the documentation that it was clear he pre-dated the other patients, by claiming he had been using the process for 7 years, ie since 1749!
In any event, Sadler & Green did not receive the patent protection, but that did not stop them from becoming the major suppliers of prints to the region, with their work appearing on Liverpool tin glaze delft, Liverpool porcelain, and several creamware manufacturers products.

This tile will be released for sale in our soon to be announced 2011 Exhibition, in our Geelong premises and on our website.

Mennecy figure fest!

A recent purchase has had some interesting interactions with our stock and collection. It is a French biscuit porcelain group of a lady & gent, she teasing a hat off his head while he plays a flute. While many 19th & 20th century factories made such pieces, this example shows all the signs of an 18th century original.

They're on a rocky base, on a low plinth. Beneath is a typical X raised support, popular with the French potters in the 18th century.

Nestled down there is an incised mark.....

It's a cursive D V, the mark for Mennecy, a most desirable firm established in Paris in 1750 and continuing into the 1770's.

...which matches perfectly an unmarked figure attributed to Mennecy currently in stock @ Moorabool Antique Galleries.

The lady is from the same mold, with minor details added by the different 'repairer' - the person responsible for splicing all the parts together.

For some reason, he/she decided to cover his face with a hat on the recently acquired one.
The unmarked example is also distinct for having a high plinth base with swags of applied flowers and bows, very finely modeled. This links in to another group, in the Lorraine Rosenberg Reference Collection. As can be seen below, it has the same high plinth with applied details.
This group shows some youthful gardeners with the fruits of their labors - a basket of flowers and another of fruit. A shovel and a bottle lie at their feet.

It was the identical style, details and paste of this piece which gave the original attribution to the Moorabool stock piece.

Underneath is the same raised X support-

-and nestled up in the base is the same cursive D V monogram mark. Aileen Dawson, of the British Museum, published a paper on these pieces in the French Porcelain Society Journal vol 1, 2003. She describes this cursive D V mark as 'strange', meaning quite unusual, and links them to a documented artist- or rather two, the brothers Christophe and Jean-Baptiste Mo. The pieces which bear an additional MO incised with the DV for Mennecy are regarded as the documentary pieces for these artist brothers: interestingly, on other pieces the cursive D V mark is also associated with them on stylistic grounds. These pieces illustrated here with the D V mark are quite plausibly by the brothers Mo.

Another Mennecy group in the Collection is this small group of musicians.

It is very sweetly modeled, the details fine, the finish superb. Intended as a table decoration for an aristocratic dining table setting, the lady plays the hirdy-girdy while the man conducts with a baton. I assume she was not his only musician, but that surrounding figures were also playing to his rhythm!

Underneath is the conventional D V mark of Mennecy. The S is presumably the repairer who was responsible for constructing this group, in around 1765.

The style is very confident and polished, especially when compared to a similar group. Illustrated in the same paper by Dawson as previously mentioned and reproduced below. This group is stiffly modeled, and actually bears the cursive D V mark previously mentioned in connection with the brothers Mo. Clearly, this is a different artist at work.

The figure below, from Dawson's paper, is similar in feel to the Youthful Gardeners in the Rosenberg Collection.

This is very interesting when we look at the mark, reproduced below- it is the same, strongly suggesting another Mo attribution is possible, if we use the mark as a signature.

Below is yet another mark from the same paper, a similar D V - but probably NOT the work of the Mo's! So it is not as simple as it would at first seem.

The cursive D V mark is not the definitive reason for attribution on these figures. It seems to be the mark of a repairer, or assembler, rather than the sculptor of the original model. The actual original modeler would not get his name onto the products unless he was also the repairer who assembled the figure from the various molds. While this was possibly the case with the examples signed MO, these other models are more open to interpretation.

The figure illustrated above is once again from Dawson's paper. The form of the rocks, the finely detailed figures and the fruit and flowers all bring to mind the figure I have recently purchased, and indeed the figure in stock at Moorabool Antique Galleries in Geelong: examine the seated man and you will see that he is indeed identical to the man in the first photo of this post: the woman is also the same to the waist, where she has been made to sit rather than stand.
Examining the mark yields no surprises: a cursive D V , putting it in the group of other very similar groups by the same hand.

This was a very exciting area to research. There is still much more to be discovered regarding these rare figures. I would love to hear from anyone with an example, especially with the initials mark. By comparing a larger sample, it may be possible to sort out the difference between the sculptor of the original master model- ie the style of the piece- and the repairer of the piece, who most probably left the problem initials on the bases.

The figure will be released for sale as part of the 2011 Exhibition at Moorabool Antiques, Australia; the other group is currently available on the Moorabool website.

14 thousand pieces of stock!

Moorabool Antiques has passed 14,000 items on our stock database today! Item 14000 was a sweet little South Staffordshire enamel patch box modeled as a lions head.

It has it's original mirror inside, so you could see to put your beauty spot on - as was the fashion 230 years ago when this was made.

On the cover it has a view of an English sea side town. This should be identifiable - it has a castle, docks, and some interesting square buildings.

While it is the fourteen thousandth item to be catalogued, it has taken 10 years! Of those items, most have sold. In our Geelong shop, though, we still have over 7,000 items on show for sale, most of it is simply not catalogued - yet. So much to do!

Flower show

We have a whole tribe of little porcelain boys for our upcoming exhibition. These were the most prolific figure creations of the English porcelain factories in the eighteenth century, in particular Derby. These are all mostly Derby from the 1760-80 period.

They look like contestants in a competition: here is the dog show - (these two are Bow, c.1760-70)

- and they are girls, as can be seen by their plats in their hair. I had not noticed this before, assuming they were the same as the flower boys.

Here is the Flower Competition....

And here's a sample of ceramic racism: the pure porcelain boys all stare at the pottery boy....

He's different! He dates to about the same period, but is from one of the Staffordshire potteries. He is actually rarer than the porcelain boys he is copied from!

I'm sure they will all learn to get along just fine together, come our Exhibition2011 in a few months, where they will all be released for sale.