Plate From Stone, Coquerel And Legros In Paris, Empire Period

A Creil earthenware plate representing a mythological scene against a landscape background, with Diana the huntress and young Cupid practicing hunting in the company of a Nymph from her procession. The goddess is dressed in an antique tunic which reveals her right breast while Love is represented naked, girded only by a fine drapery. He carries the quiver on his back held by the strap of a baldric. Frieze enhanced with gold masks and heraldic emblems. Inscription behind the plate: "Love showing a young man to aim straight at the heart". Some wear to the gold. François Antoine Legros (1772 - 1848) had worked in Sèvres from 1803, where he made prints using a process of his invention, but was never officially received there. He developed his process in order to apply it to all kinds of supports including porcelain, earthenware, fine earthenware, crystals, ivory, etc. He joined forces with John Hurtford Stone and Athanase Marie Martin Coquerel, already associated with the fine earthenware factory in Creil. The three partners filed a patent on February 28, 1808 for the Legros d'Anizy process and created a company to operate it located at 9, rue du Cadran. It was dissolved in 1818. The impressions of Legros d'Anizy are of remarkable finesse and clarity, its colors and gold of very good quality. Bibliography: Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, "Earthenware and porcelain of Paris 18th - 19th centuries", Paris, Faton, pp. 380-382.