What kind of blue is used in Sevres porcelain?
So as well as pioneering a new method of making porcelain, Sevres also invented a completely new shade of blue. The distinctive inky, dark blue one finds on many antique Sevres pieces is commonly known as bleu Sèvres, or ‘Sevres blue’.
Why was Sevres porcelain made in Limoges France?
One of the reasons for the high quality of Sevres porcelain pieces was the discovery, in around 1768, of a deposit of the mineral kaolin near the French town of Limoges.
What do the interlaced LS mean on Sevres porcelain?
Sèvres porcelain is very often marked with two blue-painted ‘interlaced’ Ls. This in turn often encloses a letter or double letter, which acts as a code for the year in which the piece was produced. Thus, a teabowl with the letter A on it would have a production date of circa 1754.
When did Sevres start making hard paste porcelain?
Having started as an attempt merely to imitate Meissen porcelain, by the later 18 th Century Sevres had developed its own distinctive style of decoration. And in 1770 they struck gold: they finally discovered the secret to hard-paste porcelain, becoming only the second manufacturer in Europe to do so.
What makes a piece of Sevres Porcelain Black?
Some pieces may be Sèvres porcelain which was left blank in the 18th century and decorated later. A giveaway for these pieces is that they often have black specks in the white porcelain body, which happens sometimes when porcelain is re-fired.
Sèvres porcelain is very often marked with two blue-painted ‘interlaced’ Ls. This in turn often encloses a letter or double letter, which acts as a code for the year in which the piece was produced. Thus, a teabowl with the letter A on it would have a production date of circa 1754.
When did Sevres porcelain go on sale at Christies?
Blue interlaced L mark enclosing date letter P, painter’s mark N for François-Joseph Aloncle, incised mark. 24.4 cm (9⅝ in) wide. Sold for £10,000 on 25 November 2014 at Christie’s in London
What kind of gilding is used on Sevres porcelain?
Vincennes and Sèvres gilding is often finely worked or ‘tooled’ with subtle patterns, and has a light touch that is very distinctive. Some pieces may be Sèvres porcelain which was left blank in the 18th century and decorated later.
