Sevres bowl and plate
Sevres, Manufacture Imperiale
16 x 23cm
1811
Designed by Claude-Charles Gérard
Ornaments painted by François-Pascal Philippine, active at Sèvres as a painter 1778-1791,
1802-1825
Cameo's painted by Louis-Bertin Parant active 1806-1828
Sevres Registre Vu 1, folio 123, n°283.7
Sevres Sales Book description: 1 Ecuelle et plat. Fe Gérard gd rouge camée allégorique
ete réche decor en or (avec etui) 700 Francs
The Sevres Archives show that this 'écuelle à bouillon' designed by Claude-Charles
Gérard and commemorating the birth of the King of Rome, was made at the initiative
of the Director of Manufacture Alexandre Brongniart, and offered to the Empress Marie-Louise,
probably for her to give away as a New Year gift in 1811. Unfortunately it is not
recorded as to who Marie-Louise gave this wonderful piece to, but it is known that
an almost identical bowl in green was given by Napoleon to the Grand Duke of Wurzburg,
uncle to the Empress Marie-Louise, also as a New Year gift, in 1811.
The bowl with handles in the shape of cornucopias or ‘Horns of Plenty’ sits on a
pedestal shaped spray of corn wrapped with a branch of ivy, treated with a matt gold
plating finish. On the upper rim of the bowl, a beautiful frieze of foliage, slightly
relief and matt gilded. Each side of the bowl it is decorated with a rectangular
cameo echoing with symbolisms of the birth of the ‘roi de rome’ and the two principle
cities of the Empire (Paris and Rome), now linked by the birth of the young king.
In one cameo we see a figure representing the river Tiber, contemplating the new
star, and Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, with the She-Wolf who raised them.
In the other, a woman representing the river Seine is shown, as Mercury delivers
into her arms a child that the gods have entrusted her, on the stone wall at her
feet can be seen the coat of arms of the city of Paris.
Louis-Bertin Parant specialised in painted simulated cameos of this type, on a dark
brown ground, was active between 1806-1828 and 1835-1841, with some of his most celebrated
work being seen on Sèvres porcelain. His most famous commission was for the cameos
on the Table des Grands Capitaines, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 which took six
years to produce rather than the anticipated eight to ten months. Parant finished
it on 17 March 1812, and in 1817 it was given to George IV by Louis XVIII. Parant
was not part of the regular work force at Sèvres, preferring to work alone in his
Paris studio.
I want to thank Madame Tamara Préaud for her grateful assistance in helping to compile
this information.
