Nature
Figure Group
1794 (made)
1794 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Louis-Simon Boizot (d. 1809), sculpteur du roi, became Director of Sculpture at Sèvres in 1773 and continued to provide models for the porcelain factory during the revolutionary period. This allegorical figure group, 'Nature' was made in 1794, a particularly uncertain time for the Sèvres factory, following the upheavals of the Revolution and preceding the new Empire. It is arguably one of Sèvres' most important and accomplished productions of the period.
1794 was the year after the execution of Louis XVI and two years after the factory had passed from royal to state ownership (following the founding of the Republic in August 1792). At the height of the revolutionary fervour, civil rights, benevolence to all men and all nations and the abolition of slavery were all endorsed by the new National Convention, prompting numerous engravings celebrating these high-minded themes. In keeping with the spirit of the time, Boizot made drawings of allegorical subjects such as Knowledge (La Sagesse), Modesty (La Pudeur) and French Heroism (L'Héroïsme français) which were reproduced in popular engravings. This group is based on an unsigned engraving, entitled 'La Nature' and attributed to Boizot, an example of which has survived in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. 'Nature' is represented as a woman nursing two infants, one each of European and African origin. The practice of breast feeding, although revived latterly by the aristocracy during the Ancien Régime, came to symbolise the Republican values of equality and duty. Another group along the same lines was produced in the same year: Freed Slaves (Les Noirs libres) inscribed 'Moi égale à toi, moi libre aussi', it was certainly based on engravings by Boizot and depicts two Africans; the man wears the phrygian cap, a symbol of freed slaves dating back to Roman republican times also adopted as a symbol of the Revolution, while the woman wears a setsquare as a pendant around her neck, a symbol of equality derived from masonic iconography. An example of this rare group is in the collections of the Musée du Nouveau Monde in La Rochelle, France.
All the references to 'Nature' in the Sèvres archives date from 1794, 'an II' (year 2), in the Revolutionary calendar. Three examples came out of the kiln on 2 messidor an II (20 June), with the comment that they needed to be refired. Three were in the 22 messidor firing (10 July, possibly the same ones), a further four were fired on 22 thermidor an II (9th August), and three on 21 fructidor an II (7th September). This means that either 10 or 13 were produced. This piece one of only two surviving examples of the model. Its clear political and humanitarian message continues to resonate in the 21st century.
1794 was the year after the execution of Louis XVI and two years after the factory had passed from royal to state ownership (following the founding of the Republic in August 1792). At the height of the revolutionary fervour, civil rights, benevolence to all men and all nations and the abolition of slavery were all endorsed by the new National Convention, prompting numerous engravings celebrating these high-minded themes. In keeping with the spirit of the time, Boizot made drawings of allegorical subjects such as Knowledge (La Sagesse), Modesty (La Pudeur) and French Heroism (L'Héroïsme français) which were reproduced in popular engravings. This group is based on an unsigned engraving, entitled 'La Nature' and attributed to Boizot, an example of which has survived in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. 'Nature' is represented as a woman nursing two infants, one each of European and African origin. The practice of breast feeding, although revived latterly by the aristocracy during the Ancien Régime, came to symbolise the Republican values of equality and duty. Another group along the same lines was produced in the same year: Freed Slaves (Les Noirs libres) inscribed 'Moi égale à toi, moi libre aussi', it was certainly based on engravings by Boizot and depicts two Africans; the man wears the phrygian cap, a symbol of freed slaves dating back to Roman republican times also adopted as a symbol of the Revolution, while the woman wears a setsquare as a pendant around her neck, a symbol of equality derived from masonic iconography. An example of this rare group is in the collections of the Musée du Nouveau Monde in La Rochelle, France.
All the references to 'Nature' in the Sèvres archives date from 1794, 'an II' (year 2), in the Revolutionary calendar. Three examples came out of the kiln on 2 messidor an II (20 June), with the comment that they needed to be refired. Three were in the 22 messidor firing (10 July, possibly the same ones), a further four were fired on 22 thermidor an II (9th August), and three on 21 fructidor an II (7th September). This means that either 10 or 13 were produced. This piece one of only two surviving examples of the model. Its clear political and humanitarian message continues to resonate in the 21st century.
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Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Titles |
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Materials and techniques | Hard-paste biscuit porcelain |
Brief description | 'Nature', hard-paste biscuit porcelain, designed by Louis-Simon Boizot, Sèvres, France, 1794 |
Physical description | Sèvres hard-paste biscuit porcelain group of a seated woman breast-feeding two babies, one of European origin the other of African. |
Dimensions |
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Marks and inscriptions | 5 (Incised on the side of the socle under the woman's right foot) |
Gallery label |
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Credit line | Purchase funded by the Friends of the V&A |
Object history | Louis-Simon Boizot held the title of Sculptor to the King and became Director of Sculpture at Sèvres in 1773. This model was made in 1794, the year following the execution of Louis XVI after the manuctory had been transferred from royal to state ownership. It was also the year in which the National Convention voted in favour of the abolition of slavery, prompting numerous engravings celebrating the themes of civil rights and benevolence to all men and all nations. The source for the group is an engraving attributed to Boizot, entitled 'La Nature', showing an allegorical figure of a woman nursing two children, one of European, the other of African origin (impressions are in the Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque nationale; see also References, below). The practice of breast feeding, although revived by the aristocracy during the Ancien Régime, came to symbolise the Republican values of equality and duty. This biscuit group was arguably one of Sèvres' most important and accomplished productions of the period. It was made at a time when the manufacture's production was in decline, following the upheavals of the Revolution and preceding the new Empire. All the references to the production of this shape in the Sèvres archives date from 1794. Three examples came out of the kiln on 2 messidor an II (20 June), with the comment that they needed to be refired. Three were in the 22 messidor firing (10 July, possibly the same ones), a further four were fired on 22 Thermidor an II (9th August), and three on 21 Fructidor an II (7th September). This means that either 10 or 13 were produced. This piece is one of only two surviving examples. Its clear political significance continues to resonate in the 21st century. Two other engraving of 1793-94 with the same title signed by Boizot are in the Bibliothèque nationale. Like the porcelain group and the unsigned engraving, these show female figures with multiple breasts based on antique models of Diana (Artemis) of Ephesus (the prints were engraved by Jean Baptiste Gautier and Louis Darcis). Boizot modelled one other Sèvres porcelain group celebrating the abolition of slavery in 1794. Inscribed, 'Moi égale à toi, moi libre aussi', this represents a black man and woman freed from slavery, the former wearing a Phyrigian cap, representing Liberty, and the latter a triangular stonemason's or carpenter's level, representing Equality and Justice (an example is in the Musée du Nouveau Monde, La Rochelle). The same symbolism also occurs on a pair of prints entitled 'Moi libre aussi' designed by Boizot, again engraved by Darcis, impressions of which are also in the Bibliothèque nationale. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Louis-Simon Boizot (d. 1809), sculpteur du roi, became Director of Sculpture at Sèvres in 1773 and continued to provide models for the porcelain factory during the revolutionary period. This allegorical figure group, 'Nature' was made in 1794, a particularly uncertain time for the Sèvres factory, following the upheavals of the Revolution and preceding the new Empire. It is arguably one of Sèvres' most important and accomplished productions of the period. 1794 was the year after the execution of Louis XVI and two years after the factory had passed from royal to state ownership (following the founding of the Republic in August 1792). At the height of the revolutionary fervour, civil rights, benevolence to all men and all nations and the abolition of slavery were all endorsed by the new National Convention, prompting numerous engravings celebrating these high-minded themes. In keeping with the spirit of the time, Boizot made drawings of allegorical subjects such as Knowledge (La Sagesse), Modesty (La Pudeur) and French Heroism (L'Héroïsme français) which were reproduced in popular engravings. This group is based on an unsigned engraving, entitled 'La Nature' and attributed to Boizot, an example of which has survived in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. 'Nature' is represented as a woman nursing two infants, one each of European and African origin. The practice of breast feeding, although revived latterly by the aristocracy during the Ancien Régime, came to symbolise the Republican values of equality and duty. Another group along the same lines was produced in the same year: Freed Slaves (Les Noirs libres) inscribed 'Moi égale à toi, moi libre aussi', it was certainly based on engravings by Boizot and depicts two Africans; the man wears the phrygian cap, a symbol of freed slaves dating back to Roman republican times also adopted as a symbol of the Revolution, while the woman wears a setsquare as a pendant around her neck, a symbol of equality derived from masonic iconography. An example of this rare group is in the collections of the Musée du Nouveau Monde in La Rochelle, France. All the references to 'Nature' in the Sèvres archives date from 1794, 'an II' (year 2), in the Revolutionary calendar. Three examples came out of the kiln on 2 messidor an II (20 June), with the comment that they needed to be refired. Three were in the 22 messidor firing (10 July, possibly the same ones), a further four were fired on 22 thermidor an II (9th August), and three on 21 fructidor an II (7th September). This means that either 10 or 13 were produced. This piece one of only two surviving examples of the model. Its clear political and humanitarian message continues to resonate in the 21st century. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | C.361-2009 |
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Record created | July 19, 2010 |
Record URL |
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