Darte Frères - Small Empire Inkwell, Restoration Period - Gilt Porcelain

Visible in Paris. Hand delivery possible in the capital and its suburbs. Shipping costs for France: €15. Contact me for shipping to Europe and the rest of the world. Inkwell. Hard-paste porcelain enhanced with gilding. Marked with a red-iron vignette. Dimensions: H. 9; D. 10 (cm). Paris, circa 1810. Rich inkwell resting on four zoomorphic feet. Quadrangular base supporting the functional, covered basin. Exuberant decoration of palmettes in relief. The Darte factory. Originally three brothers, they embarked on the trade and manufacture of porcelain in 1795 and purchased a factory on rue de Charonne, while simultaneously opening a shop in the Palais Royal. In 1804, they amicably separated. Thus, brothers Louis Joseph and Jean François founded a new company, retaining the name Darte Frères, and established themselves on Rue de la Roquette, while Joseph Darte continued under the name "Darte Aîné à Paris" and moved to Rue de Popincourt. The brothers prospered (employing 80 to 100 workers in peacetime). An advertisement from 1809 announced that the factory bore the title "Manufacture de porcelaine de SAI Madame Mère de SM L'Empereur et Roi" (Porcelain Factory of Her Imperial Highness the Mother of His Majesty the Emperor and King). In 1816, a second store opened at 16 Rue Vienne. The factory participated in the 1819 exhibition and, as in 1806, won a silver medal. However, things became complicated from 1820 onwards, and three years later the brothers divided the struggling company's assets. In 1824, Louis Joseph partnered with one of his sons, Auguste Remi, but the business declined a year later. In 1828, bankruptcy was declared. Condition report: wear and repairs to the gilding, small chips to the base.