The Musee de Sevres, opened by Alexandre Brongniard in 1824, owned a fabulous ceramic collection covering centuries of research and design. From simple earth ware to the richest porcelain, these works of art tell us the ceramic history and in particular the Sevres one.

The birth of French porcelain

Everything started in Vincennes with Orry de Fulvi, state adviser and minister of finance of Louis XV. Deeply interested in porcelain paste researches, he installed the brothers Dubois from the Chantilly manufacture in the chateau de Vincennes to create porcelain.

In 1740, in order to compete with Meissen and Chantilly, the manufacture de Vincennes officially opened. Financed by the king Louis XV and the marquise de Pompadour, his mistress the royal manufacture produces tender paste porcelain.

Quickly, it becomes very famous, producing top quality pieces thanks to some very talented scientists such as Hellot, the painter Bachelier or the king silversmith Duplessis. They create colours background, new and fabulous décor all very diversified, enriched by gold that only Vincennes can use at that time.

In 1756, Vincennes is transferred to Sevres close to the chateau de Bellevue where lives the marquise de Pompadour. In 1759, Louis XV buys the manufacture and the production becomes renown in all Europe.

In 1800, Alexandre Brongniard, famous chemist, becomes head of the manufacture. The hard paste becomes the reference and creations are more and more divers and more and more modern.

In 1824, he opens the Musee de Sevres which only displays ceramics in chronological order. Many new buildings are built and
the new site is inaugurated in 1876. Today, the museum and the manufacture are still on this site. 

From creation to edition, Sevres today

Private then royal, imperial and finally national manufacture, Sevres produces very high quality pieces still using the 18th century techniques. The production is modern and contemporary artists and designers collaborate with the manufacture. Despite this modern side, Sevres still produces 18^th and 19^th century replica.

Century after century, Sevres kept a very high quality standard and created a very wide type of pieces. Among the many artists who work for Sevres, we can mention Boucher and Bachelier, Falconet and Rodin and designers such as R Ruhlmann or Ettore Sottsass. There are now 50,000 pieces in the museum’s collection. 

Agathe Pantz

To go further :

To visit the museum : http://www.sevresciteceramique.fr/site.php

You own ceramics and want to sell them or just know what they are worth, do not hesitate to contact our
specialists.