Catalogued in a set of three volumes, this is a complete guide to the 18th-century Sevres porcelain acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between 1802 and 1875. Respectively, Volumes One to Three cover: vases; tea wares, useful wares, biscuit figures, plaques; and references, appendices and index. Each piece is illustrated. There are colour plates, black and white illustrations of models, drawings, engravings and comparative pieces, painted and incised marks, and line drawings of shapes and tooling on gilding. In addition, each volume contains: descriptions of every model, including its history and design; the social and decorative function behind the various pieces; the factory's craftsmen; the patrons and buyers, including the kings of France and their court; and insights into the taste and connoisseurship of four generations of the family who were responsible for the collection at Hertford House. the various pieces, the factory's craftsmen, the patrons and the buyers,
Synopsis, Contents and Review QuotationsThe Wallace Collection contains one of the richest and most distinguished collections of eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain in the world. It includes 137 vases, 80 tea wares, 67 useful wares, 3 biscuit figures and 130 plaques (mostly on furniture), and was acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between c. 1802 and c. 1875. Previously published between 1902 and 1920 only in summary form, it is now catalogued in detail in three handsome volumes. There are 314 colour plates; 366 black and white illustrations of models, drawings, engravings and comparative pieces; 475 painted and incised marks and line drawings of shapes and tooling on gilding. Individual entries are preceded by a detailed discussion of each model, with extensive reference to the Sèvres documents and to other examples in public and private collections. The fourteen appendices include notes on designers, painters, gilders and shareholders at the factory, on incised marks, dating problems and the redecoration of Sèvres in England, and a glossary.
Winner of the National Art Collections Fund’s prize for scholarship, 1990
CONTENTS: Volume 1: Vases Volume 2: Tea wares, Useful wares, Biscuit figures, Plaques Volume 3: References, Appendices, Index
REVIEWS: 'The Sèvres collection in the Wallace Collection is second only to the Royal Collection in size and importance... Unlike a writer on maiolica, a writer on Sèvres can draw on an immense reserve of documents (models, drawings and archival records). Savill makes full use of these and catalogues with meticulous accuracy the individual pieces in the collection. But she offers the reader more than just a catalogue raisonné; her approach is encyclopedic... This catalogue is without parallel.'
Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, The Burlington Magazine
'...an indispensable instrument of research for all those with an interest in eighteenth-century porcelain, not only French, but also European, for Sèvres was widely admired and copied. It should delight art historians, anyone interested in the development of taste and manners and indeed a wide audience of lovers of the decorative arts.'
Tamara Préaud, Apollo
