This is a stunning antique pair of Sevres porcelain and ormolu mounted wall lights painted with the Marquise de Pompadour & Madame du Barry, Circa 1870 in date.
They feature hand painted circular plaques depicting the Royal mistresses of Louis XV, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour 1721-1764 (in white with grey hair) and Jeanne Bécu, Madame du Barry 1743-1793 (in the bonnet) on bleu celeste grounds superbly decorated with panels of colourful flowers and gilded high-lights.
Both with beautifully mounted ormolu leaf cast mounts and ribbon tied cresting, each with three light sconces and each numbered S. 76. in green Serves marks on the reverse.
There is no mistaking their unique quality and design and they will soon instantly enhance the style of one special room in your home.
Provenance:
Corby Castle, Carlisle, England.
Lord and Lady Ballyedmond
Condition:
In really excellent condition with no chips, cracks or signs of repa
...ir, please see photos for confirmation of condition.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 40 cm x Width 29 cm x Depth 20 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 1 foot, 4 inches x Width 11 inches x Depth 8 inches
Corby Castle
One of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, grade I-listed Corby Castle sits on a plateau, rising above the picturesque River Eden to the east of Carlisle. The Manor of Corby was granted to Hubert de Vallibus by Henry II and passed to Andrew de Harcia, Earl of Carlisle before being given to Richard Salkeld in 1336. The estate remained in the hands of the Salkeld family until it was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. The house is built around a red sandstone peel tower, or fortified tower house, built in the 13th century; William Howard added a two-storied L-shaped house to the peel tower, and the house was once again modified in the early 19th century by descendant Henry Howard. Between 1812 and 1814, Scottish architect Peter Nicholson gave the castle a new rectangular plan and the harmonious neo-classical faēade in the distinctive local red sandstone that graces the building today. Corby Castle remained in the Howard family until 1994, when Lord and Lady Ballyedmond, as new owners, began an inspired revival of Corby, giving new life to one of the great Cumbrian mansions.
Sevres Porcelain
traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738.
French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King''s own Palace at Versailles.
From the outset, the king''s clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain ''biscuit'' figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed.
The Sevres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king''s insistence that only the finest items be created may have contrib
Internal Reference: A5061
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1197490
Dateline of this antique is 1870
Height is 40cm (15.7inches)Width is 29cm (11.4inches)Depth is 20cm (7.9inches)
Thank you.
Your comment has been sent to Sellingantiques.