Pair of "shuttle" shape baskets

Paris, Empire period, early 19th century.
Porcelain of Paris.

Oblong in shape, each porcelain basket made at the beginning of the 19th century is composed of a flared and openwork cup on two levels. The sides are richly decorated with a palmette, the front part of which has two flower buds at the ends. The two main faces present mascarons with lion heads framed by stylized palmettes and flower buds on the base, and palmettes highlighted with small scrolls on the base of the cups. The whole rests on four feet with lion claws placed facing forward.

The porcelain of Paris' history began in the 18th century, in the 1770s, when Limousin kaolin was commercialized and the porcelain manufacturing monopoly that protected the Sèvres factory was flouted. The French Revolution indeed contributed to the multiplication of factories now definitively freed from the monopoly of the royal factory. However, most of these factories only had a fleeting existence due to the economic crises resulting from the Napoleonic wars.

Very good state.