Sèvres Manufactory

The manufactory was founded in Vincennes in 1740 at the behest of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour (hence the famous pompadour rose characteristic of some ceramics). In 1756, the factory was transferred to Sèvres, following the intervention of Madame Pompadour, the driving force behind various artistic activities in the kingdom, and became a royal manufactory: in a few years it became famous not only for its flowers, but for its refined table services, for the gigantic vases that decorated the gardens, in unusual colours such as Pompadour pink, ‘bleu du roi’, yellow, pome green and meadow green, and for its statuettes, modelled on designs by stylists such as Boucher first and Clodion later. To strengthen the factory, the king, on Pompadour’s advice, hosted a market exhibition at Versailles once a year with the objects produced, which the courtiers felt obliged to buy to ingratiate themselves with their favourite. The money raised was to be used to support the artists who took royal production to the highest level with their flair. After the middle of the 18th century, groups of biscuit figurines were also modelled in Sèvres. The Convention in the years of the Revolution transformed this manufacture from ‘royal’ to ‘national’.