Lunéville, 18th Century, Scalloped Dish With Chinese-style Decoration

On display in Paris. Free in-person pickup in thecapital and its suburbs. Shipping within France: €20; contact me forshipping to Europe and the rest of the world.  


Oval scalloped dish with manganese-painted chinoiserie decoration
High-fire earthenware with purple decoration
Studio mark on the back, on the marly, in purple underglaze
France, 18th century


Dimensions : L. 26.5 cm


Condition report : Very good condition for its age, a few chipsand firing defects


History credits Jacques Chambrette with establishing thefirst workshops in Lunéville; he owned twofactories there in the early 17th century. The clay, carefully formulated by Chambrette, is very fine. It isa clay bleached with calcium phosphate. It has a beautiful luster upon emerging from thekiln, and its glaze is a beautiful pure white. The earliest Lunéville pieces were fired athigh temperatures; they were Rocaille-style tableware, sometimes featuring imitationsof Rouen ware in either blue or polychrome. These were followed by designs featuringIndian flowers and by marble imitations. Workers fromAlsace introduced, along with muffle-firing, the highly sought-after “Strasbourg flowers,”intermingled with foliage, chinoiserie, andrustic motifs. The forms seem to be molded over pieces of silverware. Whileretaining a certain elegance, they appear heavy. Aside fromeveryday tableware, the factory produced various objects, both utilitarian andceremonial: writing boxes, planters, and openwork bowls imitating wickerwork.
An example extremely similar to ours can be admired at the Reims Museum under inventory number 892.4.55