Paris Porcelain Tea Set, France, Circa 1880

Bowl – Height : 11 cm (4,3 in.)
Teapot – Height : 21,5 cm (8,5 in.)

Charming Restauration style Paris porcelain tea set with red and gold amati background, composed of a teapot, five cups with winding handle and their saucer, and a bowl. This set, lined with gold inside, is decorated with medallions representing castles and beautiful properties in countryside landscapes, framed by friezes of golden water leaves and alternating with lyres. The spout of the teapot, with the lid adorned with a frieze of pearls, figures an animal.

Since the discovery of kaolin, needed material for the making of porcelain, porcelain factories also called porcelain manufactures are on the increase in all France and naturally in Paris. Most of those manufactures worked in the 18th century under the protection of a member of the Royal family, such the comte de Provence, future Louis XVIII, who protected the Clignancourt manufacture. But during and the 19th century, numerous pieces did bear no making mark. It was then almost impossible to attribute them to any particular Parisian factory, hence the expression “Paris porcelain” or “Vieux Paris” including all those various productions.