{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O100458"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O100458/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH0183/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH0183/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH0183","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AH0023","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O100458/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O100458","accessionNumber":"C.99A-1971","objectType":"Plate","titles":[{"title":"Assiette à ozier entrelassé","type":"manufacturer's title"},{"title":"assiette à berceaux","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"The Vincennes porcelain factory had a link to the French crown from its inception as it was established in about 1740 in the semi-abandoned royal fortress of the château de Vincennes to the east of Paris.  There, a handful of porcelain specialists devoted themselves to solving the technical challenges of porcelain production as huge sums were paid by wealthy aristocrats for this glassy white substance which, up to then, was mostly imported from East Asia or the Meissen factory in what is now Germany.  (In Europe it was the Saxon ruler Augustus the Strong who had led the drive to emulate Chinese porcelains, and his Meissen factory was established in about 1710.) During the early 1740s the majority of the Vincennes factory's products were probably experimental as the porcelain body was still being perfected and different enamel colours invented.  In 1745 however, they secured a royal 'privilège' which granted them the exclusive right to produce porcelain ‘in Meissen style’ in France. As the wording suggests, the factory's earliest productions were indebted to the prestigious Meissen factory. The factory's repertoire quickly evolved however, from the emulation of East Asian or Meissen examples to incorporate the latest styles used in French gilt-bronze, woodcarving and decorative painting.  The financial support and patronage of King Louis XV and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, enabled Vincennes to secure the best technicians, artists, sculptors and designers. Jean-Claude Duplessis (director of models, 1748-74), Jean-Jacques Bachelier (director of decoration, 1751-93), Etienne-Maurice Falconet (director of sculpture, 1757-66), and the court painter François Boucher, all played a central role in the development of this entirely new French art form. By 1756 the factory had outgrown its workshops in the old château and it transferred to specially constructed premises at Sèvres (south-west of Paris). In 1759 the king purchased the factory outright and remarkably the Sèvres porcelain manufactory continues in production to the present day.\n\nThis plate with its finely moulded pattern of woven basketwork is painted with a favorite subject at the factory, exotic birds.  Lovers of Vincennes and Sèvres porcelain can often recognise the expert hand of the painter Louis-Denis Armand who decorated it.  Bernard Dragesco relates that Armand arrived at Vincennes in late 1745 and despite being only twenty-two years old, he was already an experienced porcelain enameller having worked at the Villeroy factory for three years.  By 1760 the records reveal that Armand was the highest paid painter at the factory so his work, with its fine miniaturist style and vibrant palette, was clearly recognised as exceptional.\n\nBernard Dragesco, Armand l'aîné: A Painter of Nature, in John Whitehead and Sèvres, Cité de la céramique.  Sèvres, a ceramic history: Sèvres at the Time of Louis XV, Birth of a Legend.  Paris, Editions courtes et longues, 2010, pp. 90-91.","physicalDescription":"Form: 8 large and 8 small lobes, moulded with basketweave in low relief; Ground: white; Decoration: birds; Rim hole","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Sèvres porcelain factory","id":"A406"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulded","id":"x30076"},{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"glazed","id":"AAT53914"},{"text":"gilt","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AH0183","2006AH0023"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139 (VA)","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"U","shelf":"2","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plate","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1752","earliest":"1747-01-01","latest":"1756-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"25.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Interlaced 'L's in blue enamel","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Maker's mark"},{"content":"a crescent in blue enamel for Louis-Denis Armand, also known as Armand l'aîné","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":"A8728"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Painter's mark"}],"objectHistory":"Bought for £270 from Winifred Williams, with its pair","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Porcelain plate, painted in enamels and gilt, made by Sèvres porcelain factory, France, about 1756","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bernard Dragesco, Armand l'aîné: A Painter of Nature, in Whitehead, John and Sèvres, Cité de la céramique.  Sèvres, a ceramic history: Sèvres at the Time of Louis XV, Birth of a Legend.  Paris, Editions courtes et longues, 2010, pp. 90-91.  "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tamara Préaud and Antoine d’Albis, La Porcelaine de Vincennes, Editions Adam Biro, Paris, 1991, see no. 117, p. 151 for an example of the same shape with similar decoration in the musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, and a discussion of the various names used for this moulded plate design."}],"production":"See Erickson and Bellaigue pl.76 for dating of 1752","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"parrots","id":"x36571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.99A-1971"],"accessionNumberNum":"99","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1971,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2004-06-07","availableToBook":false}}