SAINT CLOUD c.1720 – 1740 French Soft-Paste Porcelain
An 18th Century French Soft-Paste `Trembleuse` Coffee Cup and Saucer, St.Cloud Factory c.1720-1740. Thickly Potted with a Lead Glaze Over a Gadroon Moulded Form. Decorated with a Lambrequin Design in Blue and White.
SOLD
- Condition
- Some damage ; a long shallow chip to the inner rim of the cup c.13 x 2 mm. The footrim of the saucer with a large deep chip c.46 x 5 mm. There is an associated fracture with this chip.
- Size
- Diameter of the saucer : 13.2 cm (5 1/4 inches)
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 23596
- References
- For a Similar 18th century Saint Cloud teabowl and Saucer See : French Porcelain, A Catalogue of the British Museum (Aileen Dawson, British Museum Press,1994) Page 24, Item 25.
Photos
Information
This design is in a style traditionally related to the great Baroque designer to the French court of Louis XIV, Jean Berain (1640-1711). Berain`s style of grotesques and strap-work were used on all types of decorative art from furniture to tapestries, silver ware and just about anything else. His stylistic language is based on a Renaissance understanding of a type of Roman design. However the designs one finds on St.Cloud porcelain are more linear and weightless, they are more in keeping with ornamental prints. Of the more complex designs, a few have been possible to identify from the original source material. They are not taken from Berain designs but from the etchings of a prolific architect Jacques Androuent Du Cereau, who early in his life spent time working in Italy (in the 1530`s). However it seems to me inconceivable that his designs would have been used in the early 18th century unless Berain and his grotesque style were so popular. Both are interpretations of Classical Roman design but from different generations.