Special Exhibition: 300 ans de création à Sèvres - Porcelaine de la Cour de France

Saturday, April 7, 2018～Monday, July 16, 2018

This exhibition focuses on the works of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres or the national porcelain manufactory of Sèvres, which developed under the support of the French court and have been active through the vicissitudes of nearly 300 years. The Sèvres factory finds its origin in the soft-paste porcelain manufactory established in Vincennes, a town in the eastern end of Paris, in 1740. This was in the 18th century, when the desire for porcelain among the people in Europe had been growing to a large extent. With the support of the powerful king Louis XV, the factory was moved to the town of Sèvres, located in between Paris and Versailles, and became a Royal property. In 1769 Sèvres successfully developed the recipe and production techniques of hard-paste porcelain. The court invited their favorite skilled painters and sculptors to produce intellectual and sophisticated works, which were presented to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. They were also given as diplomatic gifts to foreign important figures, captivating the hearts of many kings and aristocrats including the Russian empress Catherine the Great. Surviving the tumultuous times of the French Revolution and by the time of the rise of Napoleon, the forms of Sèvres porcelain shifted to the Neoclassical style. During the age of World Fairs which begun in the mid-19th century, Sèvres produced various innovative works that surpassed the category of “tableware”. Their relationship with Japan begun in the early 20th century, when they worked with the Japanese sculptor Ichiga Numata, the first non-French artist who produced molds for Sèvres ware. Such collaboration with artists is an important part of their work – along the production of traditional tableware – and continues extensively today with leading artists including Pierre Soulages and Yayoi Kusama.
The approximately 130 works from the collection of Sèvres – Cité de la Céramique displayed in this exhibition bespeaks the 300-years history of the manufactory. We hope you will enjoy the charm of Sèvres porcelain, which have always maintained its high degree of elegance and sophistication even through various transitions.

Information

Examples of Objects on Display