Plate

Object Type
This plate was acquired by the Schools of Design as an example for the students. It demonstrates the superb quality of realistic painting achieved by the Sèvres factory, near Paris, at this date. It was made as part of a grand service in which probably every plate had a different design. This is of Chinese asters, named as such on the reverse ('Astère de la Chine'). The wealth of colour, the length of time needed to paint this elaborate decoration, the gilding and the fact that it was made by the Sèvres factory, which in the 1840s was again under royal patronage, would all have combined to make this an extremely expensive plate. It is marked for King Louis Philippe.

Time
The fortunes of the Sèvres factory were always closely tied to political events. The factory was originally established under royal patronage; after the French Revolution Napoleon awarded it state subsidies and from 1806 he took it under imperial patronage. These subsidies and, after Napoleon's overthrow, the support of the restored Bourbon monarchy continued until 1848, when the factory came under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. In 1851, as the State Manufactory, Sèvres was keen to reaffirm its technical and artistic superiority.