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Lot Essay
See The Ladies Amusement; or, Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy, published by Robert Sayer, London (2nd ed., 1762), p. 42 for the engraving after the drawing by Pillement, here illustrated.
Jean Pillement, born in Lyon in 1727 or 8, studied with the painter Daniel Sarrabat before working as a designer at the Gobelins tapestry factory in Paris. He travelled in Europe before moving to London in 1750 where his drawings and paintings of figures, landscapes and flowers in the highly fashionable Chinoiserie taste were exhibited at the London Society of Artists in 1760, 1761 and 1763. His works were also reproduced in books of engravings and designs of which The Ladies Amusement is an example. The engravings were intended for professional and amateur artists alike to copy, in whatever medium, onto furniture, textiles or, as here, porcelain. The London porcelain-decorating workshop of James Giles, among others, used them, copying the designs freehand in coloured enamels onto both Chelsea and Worcester porcelain. Engraved onto copper plates by Robert Hancock, they were reproduced as transfer-prints and applied to porcelain; these were also printed onto tiles by Sadler and Green of Liverpool. In 1763 Pillement worked in the Kaiserhof in Vienna; in 1766 he carried out a commission for interior decorations for the King of Poland and shortly after was made painter to the King. He travelled again, exhibiting in London and Paris. In 1778 he supplied paintings to Marie-Antoinette for the Petit Trianon and in return was offered a royal appointment. He travelled again in later life, continuing his work of painting and designing, especially textiles; William Beckford much admired the rococo pavilion after one of his designs at Sintra, in Portugal. He eventually returned to his home city of Lyon, where he died impoverished in 1808.
Jean Pillement, born in Lyon in 1727 or 8, studied with the painter Daniel Sarrabat before working as a designer at the Gobelins tapestry factory in Paris. He travelled in Europe before moving to London in 1750 where his drawings and paintings of figures, landscapes and flowers in the highly fashionable Chinoiserie taste were exhibited at the London Society of Artists in 1760, 1761 and 1763. His works were also reproduced in books of engravings and designs of which The Ladies Amusement is an example. The engravings were intended for professional and amateur artists alike to copy, in whatever medium, onto furniture, textiles or, as here, porcelain. The London porcelain-decorating workshop of James Giles, among others, used them, copying the designs freehand in coloured enamels onto both Chelsea and Worcester porcelain. Engraved onto copper plates by Robert Hancock, they were reproduced as transfer-prints and applied to porcelain; these were also printed onto tiles by Sadler and Green of Liverpool. In 1763 Pillement worked in the Kaiserhof in Vienna; in 1766 he carried out a commission for interior decorations for the King of Poland and shortly after was made painter to the King. He travelled again, exhibiting in London and Paris. In 1778 he supplied paintings to Marie-Antoinette for the Petit Trianon and in return was offered a royal appointment. He travelled again in later life, continuing his work of painting and designing, especially textiles; William Beckford much admired the rococo pavilion after one of his designs at Sintra, in Portugal. He eventually returned to his home city of Lyon, where he died impoverished in 1808.