Porcelain Inkstand in the Sèvres Style

Description

This piece is an oval, lobed porcelain double inkstand (écritoire) decorated in the Sèvres style.

• Tray & Form: The set features a scalloped, lobed porcelain tray housing two inset wells for removable porcelain ink pots, complete with separate, loose porcelain lids topped with gilded bud-form finials.
• Ground & Gilding: The surface is finished in a deep cobalt blue ground, richly covered with a gilded “œil-de-perdrix” (partridge eye) pattern—a traditional pattern composed of dotted gilt rings surrounding central dots. The lobed borders and edges are framed with delicate gilded laurel leaf sprays and gilt rimming.
• Central Reserve: Positioned at the center of the tray is an oval white porcelain reserve edged with a gilt laurel wreath. Inside the reserve is a hand-painted polychrome floral vignette depicting a woven flower basket overflowing with roses, pansies, and garden blossoms tied with a pink ribbon.
• Underside: The underside is glazed white, showing an unglazed oval foot rim and circular recesses for the inkwell inserts.

Origin, Maker, and Date

• Where was it made? It was produced in France.
• Who made it? It was created in the manner of the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres (commonly referred to as Sèvres style or French soft-paste/hard-paste revival porcelain). While pieces executed in this high Rococo taste bear the hallmark stylistic traits of 18th-century royal Sèvres production, most extant examples featuring this specific form and condition were manufactured by prestigious late 19th- or early 20th-century Parisian porcelain decorators (such as Samson, Edmé Samson et Cie, or secondary French workshop decorators) operating in the Sèvres tradition.
• When was it made? This piece dates to the late 19th to early 20th century (circa 1880–1920). The design itself pays homage to the mid-to-late 18th-century French Neoclassical and Rococo periods.