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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
E.S. Auscher, translated by William Burton, A History and Description of French Porcelain, London, 1905, pp. 9-18.
Bertrand Randot, ed., Discovering the Secrets of Soft-Paste Porcelain at The Saint-Cloud Manufactory ca. 1690-1766, Exhibition Catalogue, The Bard Graduate Center for the Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1999.
Although a common form in tin-glazed earthenware, the present fitted cruet stand would appear to be the only example known in porcelain and is, without question, the example illustrated or discussed in all the literature on this small Parisian porcelain factory - a fact easily confirmed by comparing the porcelain with the illustrations in the literature which show a repair to the handle and a small stain on the rim of one bottle and a body crack to the other bottle - these photographs dating back as far as the Chavagnac sale catalogue of 1911.
Possibly the only marked piece of any importance from the Antoine Pavie workshop not in a museum collection, the present stand and bottles are documentary of its production. A close examination of the porcelain reveals the difficulty firing what was very much an experimental material circa 1720. What should be circular basins are wonderfully wonky, with tiny internal tears in the porcelain visible to the naked eye. The baluster bottles, on the other hand, have retained their sinuous form without any slumping, although there are slight differences between the two to the shape of the handle and breadth of the body. Facinating is the fact that each of the foliate scroll bands decorating the set is of a slightly different pattern - similar, but not mechanically exact. Were the two sides of the stand not fused together, the modern eye might condemn them as not belonging together. Yet there they are - amazingly, accompanied by the original cruets - each piece a testament to the freedom and imagination of the 18th century decorative eye.
For years, the identity remained unconfirmed of the 'AP' whose initials (sometimes also with a star) appear on a selection of soft-paste porcelain blue and white-decorated objects; these salts, pommade pots, mustard pots and jugs attributed over time to the Poterat Workshop at Rouen or to the Chicaneau family's production at Saint-Cloud. Recently found letters have confirmed Antoine Pavie as this man and have answered many questions relating to the relationship between him and his competitors. But this confirmation has also raised questions as to when and by whom soft-paste porcelain was first produced in France, and what the relationship was between these small start-up companies. What is certain is that the present fitted cruet stand, with its mismatched decoration and four different AP marks, serves as a three-dimensional document of Paris porcelain production in the early years of the 18th century.
E.S. Auscher, translated by William Burton, A History and Description of French Porcelain, London, 1905, pp. 9-18.
Bertrand Randot, ed., Discovering the Secrets of Soft-Paste Porcelain at The Saint-Cloud Manufactory ca. 1690-1766, Exhibition Catalogue, The Bard Graduate Center for the Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1999.
Although a common form in tin-glazed earthenware, the present fitted cruet stand would appear to be the only example known in porcelain and is, without question, the example illustrated or discussed in all the literature on this small Parisian porcelain factory - a fact easily confirmed by comparing the porcelain with the illustrations in the literature which show a repair to the handle and a small stain on the rim of one bottle and a body crack to the other bottle - these photographs dating back as far as the Chavagnac sale catalogue of 1911.
Possibly the only marked piece of any importance from the Antoine Pavie workshop not in a museum collection, the present stand and bottles are documentary of its production. A close examination of the porcelain reveals the difficulty firing what was very much an experimental material circa 1720. What should be circular basins are wonderfully wonky, with tiny internal tears in the porcelain visible to the naked eye. The baluster bottles, on the other hand, have retained their sinuous form without any slumping, although there are slight differences between the two to the shape of the handle and breadth of the body. Facinating is the fact that each of the foliate scroll bands decorating the set is of a slightly different pattern - similar, but not mechanically exact. Were the two sides of the stand not fused together, the modern eye might condemn them as not belonging together. Yet there they are - amazingly, accompanied by the original cruets - each piece a testament to the freedom and imagination of the 18th century decorative eye.
For years, the identity remained unconfirmed of the 'AP' whose initials (sometimes also with a star) appear on a selection of soft-paste porcelain blue and white-decorated objects; these salts, pommade pots, mustard pots and jugs attributed over time to the Poterat Workshop at Rouen or to the Chicaneau family's production at Saint-Cloud. Recently found letters have confirmed Antoine Pavie as this man and have answered many questions relating to the relationship between him and his competitors. But this confirmation has also raised questions as to when and by whom soft-paste porcelain was first produced in France, and what the relationship was between these small start-up companies. What is certain is that the present fitted cruet stand, with its mismatched decoration and four different AP marks, serves as a three-dimensional document of Paris porcelain production in the early years of the 18th century.