A 19th-century French chromolithograph of Sèvres porcelain and painted motifs, from Édouard Garnier's celebrated study of Sèvres soft-paste porcelain. A pair of green-ground vases with flaring gilt-edged necks and flower-trimmed scrolled handles frame modeled cherubs, one reaching up with a rose and the other with grapes. Between them, a white profile portrait, thought to be Louis XV, the manufactory's royal patron, is encircled by a lush wreath of roses, morning glories, and pansies. Below sits a white cachepot with feathered pink handles and a shaped reserve of a cottage by the water, flanked by a loose bouquet and a flock of birds in flight drawn from the painters' repertoire. The Sèvres interlaced L mark is printed beside the cachepot. It is framed in gilt with a rope twist edge and a beaded inner border, and it is lovely in a library, a sitting room, or a dining room.
Chromolithography was the finest color printing process of the 19th century. Each color was drawn by hand onto its own limestone block, and the sheet was pressed against every stone in turn, sometimes a dozen or more, with each impression aligned precisely over the last. Here the gold was printed in metallic ink so it catches the light as gilding would.
- Origin: France
- Age: Late 19th century (Circa 1880)
- Medium: Chromolithograph with metallic gold on paper
- Details: Pair of Sèvres green-ground vases with modeled cherubs, profile portrait within a floral wreath, cachepot with landscape reserve, floral and bird studies, printed Sèvres mark; gilt frame with rope twist and beaded edge, glazed
- Dimensions: 18.5 by 13
- Condition: Good antique condition with light toning to the paper consistent with age.
