I adore flowers, not to mention porcelain. And I'm particularly keen on porcelain flowers, especially those so delicately crafted by Pamela Tidwell of Vieuxtemps Porcelain. (I awake to her sublime grape hyacinth every morning.) But the little porcelain flowers that I'm featuring today lack pots. In fact, most of them lack stems, too. They beg to be cradled in one's hand, don't they? And they seem to cry out for company, too, if the Christie's website is any indication. Over the years, most of the 18th and 19th century flowers that they have auctioned off seem to be parts of great collections. It's easy to understand how one ceramic floral bloom might lead to another, and another, and another.
While some of the most prominent examples of these stemless porcelain flowers were made by Sèvres (favorites of both Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour), others were made by Meissen, Chantilly, and other European porcelain makers. Even if porcelain isn't your thing, you have to admit that a profusion of these delicate flowers make for some really striking photos. They make for really striking bouquets, too.
Photo at top: An assortment of 18th and 19th century Continental porcelain flowers, which was auctioned off at Christie's last year. The estimate was EUR 3,000 to 5,000, but the realized price was EUR 20,000.
Collection of fifty-one 18th and 19th century Continental porcelain flowers, sold at a 2012 Christie's auction. Price realized, $8,750.
Photo via Wikimedia, source Patrick.charpiat
A collection of thirty-two 18th and 19th century Continental porcelain flowers, some with tole stems. Sold at 2001 Christie's London auction.
Nineteen 20th century porcelain flowers, part of the Gutfreund collection that was sold at Christie's last June.
Just beautiful! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJR
JR- Thank you!
DeleteWow, this sure brought back memories. When I worked at Marvin Alexander, the antique lighting purveyor in NYC, the store rooms in the basement held boxes and boxes of these flowers. Seems a chandelier repairman sold his stock to the firm years ago and they had been put on shelves in the basement. When I went down to superintend the reorganization of the space, these ratty-tatty boxes, packed with excelsior and yellowed tissue, opened to reveal a Trianon of rare blossom, delicately hand-painted carnations, many petaled chrysanthemums, white porcelain roses from bud to in-full-bloom and even minutely accurate tole leaves, buds and stems, all originally intended for use as trim on chandeliers, clocks, candelabra and the like. It was amazing to realize that an entire industry once existed to "grow" these lovely, frozen in porcelain blooms, depicting varieties that we now would refer to as "heirloom" and which have only recently come back into fashion in the living garden.
ReplyDeleteQuatorze, whatever happened to the stock of porcelain flowers? How divine!
DeleteThese are simply breathtaking! Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chez Laurel!
DeleteJean Schlumberger started his career by finding these homeless porcelain flowers at the Marche au Puces and mounting them as brooches to give to his friends as gifts
ReplyDeleteThomas, how interesting! I did not know that he got his start that way. What I would give to have one of those brooches!
DeleteThese are so lovely, and look wonderful on the black background. I was going to ask whether they were used as decoration for chandeliers and so on... I guess @Quatorze answered my question!
ReplyDeleteBecky
And then there is the wonderful (if memory serves, and it doesn't always) powder room, bright green lacquer with porcelain flowers affixed to the wall, by Katie Ridder. So fab. Photo of it in Katie's book when I wrote about it here, www.francesschultz.com/951
ReplyDeleteand originally published in Elle Decor, here http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/ideas/small-bathroom-ideas#slide-8.