Flower vase (cuvette Courteille), Manufacture de Sèvres, 1760
In 1756 the French royal porcelain factory moved from Vincennes to Sèvres. Initially it did not produce true hard-paste porcelain like that from China and the Meissen factory in Germany, but rather an imitation of it (pate tendre, soft-paste porcelain). With its striking colour for the ground, its panel with a painted scene and its elaborate gilding, this vase epitomizes the Sèvres factory’s style during its first decade.