A maker of exemplary European ceramics for hundreds of years, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres has produced porcelain of the highest quality since 1740.
The factory enjoyed royal patronage from its earliest days, and its most prominent patrons in the late 1700s — King Louis XV of France and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour — commissioned some of the period’s most elegant and striking pieces (only the truly wealthy could afford porcelain at this time). The company was originally established in Vincennes but was moved at the request of Madame de Pompadour, in 1756, to Sèvres, near Versailles, so that its operations would be closer to her château.
Sèvres became a mighty and much-revered factory working under a special grant from King Louis XV — the company’s owner as of 1759 and whose abundance of orders for special state gifts put financial strain on the company. Madame de Pompadour is said to have commissioned Sèvres to create an entire indoor garden of porcelain botanicals, for example.
While Sèvres gained a sterling reputation for its soft-paste porcelain wares, the company was late in entering into the production of hard-paste porcelain.
Hard-paste porcelain is the most common type of Chinese porcelain, then a widely exported and profitable product that was not made in Europe until the 18th century. The resources at Sèvres were largely relegated to meeting the demands of Louis XV, and secondly, it did not acquire the secret formula for hard-paste porcelain until 1761.
Until it obtained the coveted secrets behind hard-paste porcelain from a chemist named Pierre-Antoine Hannong — and, years later, gained access to the elusive raw materials to make hard-paste porcelain — Sèvres produced soft-paste porcelain for decades that was widely celebrated but is comparatively a far weaker type as opposed to the hard-paste productions of the company’s rival, Meissen, in Saxony, the first to produce true porcelain outside of Asia.
The artisans at Sèvres applied the rarest and most difficult-to-produce colors to their decorative objects and dinner services. One such color, the bright bleu de roi, became the manufacturer’s signature shade and is found on many of their objects. Sèvres also experimented with rarely glazed or unglazed works that bore no decoration at all — bisque porcelain, French for “biscuit,” refers to unadorned white porcelain sculptures made at Sèvres that resemble white marble after being kiln-fired.
Sèvres marks were applied over the glaze or rendered with cuts by a sharp tool — authentic Sèvres porcelain is most commonly marked with two interlaced Ls that are painted in blue and enclose a third letter. Painters and potters were tasked with affixing marks to record their role in the creation of a particular piece, and as a lot of these artisans’ names are recorded in archival factory materials — and there is also much to be learned at the Sèvres museum — it’s likely that you can accurately identify your Sèvres piece.
Find antique and vintage Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres vases, urns, sculptures and more on 1stDibs.
Antique 18thC French Louis XV Painted & Ormolu Vernis Martin Cartel Clock 1750
Located in Portland, OR
A fine & large antique 18th Century French hand-painted & Ormolu Vernis Martin Louis XV period cartel or bracket clock, circa 1750. This very finely detailed, large and impressive 8...
Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu
Antique French Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain 3 Piece Clock Candelabra Garniture 1870
By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, F. Barbedienne Foundry, Brocot & Delettrez
Located in Portland, OR
An outstanding quality antique gilded bronze & Sevres porcelain French 3 piece, 8 day clock garniture with candelabra, by Brocot & Delettrez, Paris, circa 1870. The clock with an 'egg' shaped urn made of cobalt blue Sevres porcelain with a hand-painted panel with a neo-classical beauty and a cupid, the rear is painted with gilt birds & floral decoration. The urn with gilt bronze handles to the sides held in the mouths of lion's masks, the clock below also with sumptuously decorated with gilded cobalt porcelain panels, the clock dial with black Roman numerals & is finely painted with two horses and a chariot with a putti falling out of the chariot. The clock has two winding arbors one for the 8 day time wind the other for a chime, the clock chimes the hours on a soft delicate sounding bell, the clock is in full working order and was recently professionally cleaned. The clock is complemented with a pair of gilt bronze & cobalt blue Sevres porcelain four branch vasiform candelabras, decorated with oval panels to the front with putti & Neoclassical maidens, the back panels finely painted with birds, each candelabra is in two sections and raised on gilt bronze bases with corbel brackets & acanthus leaf feet. The bronze casting is very likely by the Barbedienne Foundry in Paris, as the quality is outstanding, the clock is stamped "BD" for Achille Brocot (1817-1878) and Jean-Baptiste Delettrez (1816-1887), they were two of the most important French clock makers of the mid to late 19th century, please see some biography below. The clock is mechanically & cosmetically in excellent condition, and was recently overhauled by a clock-smith, the porcelain & ormolu are also in excellent condition, one of the very best investment quality gilt-bronze & Sevres porcelain clock garnitures by the top French makers of the period, circa 1870. This garniture will be professionally crated for shipping. Delettrez and Achille Brocot, son of the respected clockmaker Louis-Gabriel Brocot, established the clockmaking company "Brocot et Delettrez" in Paris on 20 October 1851, with premises at 62 Rue Charlot Paris. Jean-Baptiste Delettrez worked alongside Achille Brocot for several years and their clock movements are considered to be the most effective made during the late 19th century. Their specialty was a range of clocks based on the innovations of Brocot père and his other son Antoine, but generally of Achille's greatly advanced original design, some having a unique single-arm double-wheel escapement, some having a temperature-compensated pendulum, some having two dials, one of which showed the time and the other which showed a calendar and often other information such as phases of the moon, times of sunrise & sunset in Paris, etc. The firm was awarded a 1st class prize at the Paris World Exposition of 1857 for a commercial clock...
Ormolu
Antique French Gilt Bronze Empire Neoclassical Statue Clock by Rabiat Paris 1810
Located in Portland, OR
Incredible investment quality antique French gilded bronze Empire eight day clock, "Allegory of Poetry" Claude François Rabiat circa 1810, in excellent condition. The clock depicts a handsome tall winged angel holding a stylus and leaning on a column with two volumes on philosophy. The column with four portrait plaques including "Caesar" and the writer/philosopher "Xenophon", there are two further portrait plaques to the side of the column, the clock is raised on a malachite marble plinth with gilt bronze bun feet. The clock having an eight day time and strike mechanism, striking the hours on a mellow sounding bell, the white potrcelain dial with black Roman numerals and signed "a' Paris". The clock works perfectly and has recently been professionally overhauled and cleaned by a clocksmith, the clock keeps very good time, the original key and pendulum is present. This clock was purchased in the late 1990s for $26,000. Remarkable condition, this very beautiful antique clock...
Marble, Bronze, Enamel
Antique French Orientalist Arab 8 Day Gilt Bronze Statue Clock Garniture, 1880
Located in Portland, OR
A Fine & important French bronze statue 8 day clock garniture in the Orientalist style, circa 1880. The 8 day clock with a time and strike mechanism, sounding the hours and half hours on a pleasant mellow sounding bell. The clock is house in a lavish bronze case heightened with silver gilt, to the top is an engraved 'Minaret' shaped finial and below a gallery of silvered and gilt bronze leaves. The white enamel clock dial having black Arabic numerals, the center of the dial with a bas relief of palm trees and figures below the sun and a fort to the background. The front of the clock is shaped like a Mihrab (a niche in a mosque), to the base is another bas relief an East Indian scene with gilded bronze figures holding muskets and spears, with an elephant and tiger...
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Enamel
Antique French Empire Gilt Bronze & Marble Statue Clock of Homer by Ravrio 1810
By André-Antoine Ravrio
Located in Portland, OR
A very Fine antique French Empire gilt bronze statue clock, depicting Homer in the Ruins of Troy, by André-Antoine Ravrio (1759-1814), circa 1810. This e...
Marble, Bronze
Antique 8 Day Tall Case Grandfather Clock Automaton Andrew Rich Bridgewater 1820
Located in Portland, OR
A fine antique Georgian Regency period tall case 8 day inlaid mahogany grandfather clock with a rocking figure of Old Father Time, by Andrew Rich of Bridgwater Somerset, circa 1820. The clock is made of the finest figured flame mahogany & inlaid with satinwood stringing, the clock hood with twin arched 'swan's neck' pediment with brass rosettes & a central brass urn shaped finial. The hood door is flanked by a pair of turned columns with gilt brass capitals & bases, the door enclosing a painted dial with gilding & floral spandrel panels. The clock having an unsul feature of a winged Old Father Time, holding his scythe he rocks backwards & forwards in unison with the pendulum. The dial with black Roman numerals and having a seconds dial and also a calendar dial, the clock is signed to the center "Rich Bridgwater" (a prosperous historic coastal town & port in the Somerset area of the Southwest of England). The trunk of the case with carved 'ropetwist' pilasters, the door & base inlaid with satinwood stringing, the clock is raised on bracket feet. The clock has an eight day mechanism & strikes the hours on a mellow sounding bell, the clock chime can be silenced by not winding the chime arbor, original pendulum & weights, winding key is present. The clock is in excellent antique condition & has just been professionally cleaned and overhauled by a professional clocksmith, it keeps very good time, this elegant antique tall case clock...
Mahogany, Satinwood
Sevres Porcelain and Ormolu Antique French Clock by Miroy Frères
By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Miroy Frères, Vincenti et Cie
Located in Belper, Derbyshire
A superb early antique French ormolu and Sèvres style porcelain clock. It is made of exquisite ormolu (finely gilded bronze) mounted with very finely painted Sèvres style porcelain, ...
Ormolu
Large 19th Century French Sevres Porcelain Bronze Clock Balthazar Paris
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A grand and highly decorative French mantel clock featuring cobalt blue Sèvres porcelain panels mounted in an elaborate gilt bronze (ormolu) case. The elegant urn-form body is richly...
Bronze
Japy Freres Ormolu and Sèvres Porcelain Antique French Clock
By Japy Frères
Located in Belper, Derbyshire
A magnificent ormolu (finely gilded bronze) and Sèvres style porcelain clock by renown maker Japy Frères. It is of a beautifully chic design, four turned corner columns with a cushio...
Ormolu
19th Century Richard & Cie Porcelain and Ormolu Mantel Clock - Japy Frères
By Japy Frères
Located in SANT ADRIÀ DE BESÒS, ES
An elegant French mantel clock attributed to Richard & Cie of Paris, dating to the late 19th century. The case combines richly gilded bronze-mounted construction with finely painted ...
Bronze
Antique French Sèvres-Style Ormolu Mounted Porcelain Mantel Clock
By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres
Located in London, GB
Antique French Sèvres-style ormolu mounted porcelain mantel clock French, 19th Century Height 50cm, diameter 21cm This superb 19th century porcelain clock...
Ormolu
Antique French Ormolu and Sevres Porcelain Clock
By Oppenheim, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres
Located in Belper, Derbyshire
An exquisite antique French ormolu clock mounted with Sevres style porcelain. Made in finely gilded bronze, sculptured as a large gadrooned and handled urn, draped with acanthus garl...
Ormolu
