Vase

This vase is one of the earliest and largest known examples of porcelain produced by the Saint-Cloud Porcelain Manufactory. Located just outside Paris, the factory was the first in Europe to produce a commercially viable type of porcelain in the early 1690s. This French porcelain is known as “soft-paste,” distinguishing it from Asian (and later European) porcelains, which were made with kaolin clay and known as “hard paste.” The successful production of a European porcelain was met with great excitement—porcelain had previously been produced only in Asia—and in 1702 the factory received the official support the duc d’Orléans (1674–1723), brother of King Louis XIV of France.

The inky blue and white palette of the vase deliberately evokes imported Chinese porcelain, which was then very fashionable among Europe’s elite. Its decorative motifs, however, are indebted to French court style, particularly the ornamental designs of engraver Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (French, c. 1510–after 1584). By the second half of the century the newly-established royal porcelain manufactory at Sèvres had exerted its dominance in the market, and the factory at Saint-Cloud ceased production in 1766.