From the outset the wares were given a high artistic quality. Duplessis, goldsmith to the king, was charged in 1747 with the control of the modellers; he kept the workshops under close personal supervision, and to his guiding influence is attributable the originality and unfailing taste of the shapes adopted. Hellot, director of the Academy of Sciences, was in charge of the chemical composition of the materials, while Bachelier was at the head of the painters and gilders. Drawings of figure-subjects were supplied by François Boucher for the painted decoration, as well as for translation into the round by the modellers; an instance of the latter process is the fine biscuit group of Leda modelled from Boucher’s design by Fernex, a painted version of the same subject being in the National Museum at Stockholm.
The rare pieces surviving from the earliest stage of the factory’s existence show clearly the aim which De Fulvy set himself of competing with the Saxon porcelain; the landscapes or river-scenes painted on them, with miniature groups of figures and buildings, are evidently inspired by the Meissen subjects of the period. The same is true of the coloured grounds with medallions in reserve which made their appearance shortly afterwards, but the colours used for the purpose were entirely new. The earliest of these was the deep blue (“_gros bleu_”) from which was subsequently developed the famous “_bleu de roi_.” The researches of Hellot bore fruit later in the discovery of the _rose Pompadour_ pink and turquoise-blue. A feature of the earliest years of the factory before its removal from Vincennes were the artificial flowers modelled in porcelain, which amounted in value to over three-fourths of the total output.
None of the pieces in our illustrations are of the primitive period. They represent several of the Sèvres ground colours. Plate 14 shows a jardinière with openwork socket painted with cupids and flowers in panels reserved on a _rose Pompadour_ ground. It is marked with the royal cipher enclosing the date-letter I, for 1761, and with a branch of foliage, the mark of the painter Jean René Dubois.
Vase, with Cover, Meissen, Marcolini period, about 1780. Height, 11-7/8 in. Jones Collection.