Boucher Scene Sevres Style Plate #1

This is a superb plate made by Minton in 1860 according to the date code. This style of painting is usually attributed to Antonin Boullemier but the date code and ermine mark place this in a time period before he arrived at Mintons . Only way this was painted by him would be that it was painted after the blank was made but the ermine mark would have been added at the time of painting so it's a bit of a mystery. The style and execution is definitely fitting of him and I don't know of any other artist that painted in this style before him. Either way it is an amazing plate and might be a nice research tool for someone. The plate is hand painted with a scene in the center after Francois Boucher including a couple in a landscape surrounding. The edge of the well has a nice gold trim to it and the rim has their famous turquoise ground color to it with three cartouches of Sevres style flowers on white ground surrounded by raied and tooled gilding with gold leaf swag going across the turquoise ground to the next cartouche. Dentil gilding to the dge. Besides the original Sevres piece this is the next best thing. Amazing quality! One of the nicest plates I have seen by Minton! Just a great combination of colors and quality. It looks stunning! The plate is 1 inch tall and 9.625 inches in diameter. It is in superb condition with a few scratches which is common on these softer glaze pieces but it displays perfectly! A manufacturing flaw on the underside rim likely a flaw in the paste that bruned off during the firing. Nothing that affects the piece at all. It is marked underneath with the puce 'ermine' mark (1850-1870), impressed date code and other marks as shown, a puce c and gold triangle plus another puce mark that is likely a retailers mark though I have not seen this one before. These plates are really hard to find and it is just superb! Please email me for more information or other pictures.

About Antonin Hilaire Boullemier (1839-1900). He was the son of a Sevres artist who following the Siege of Paris fled to England and joined Minton in about 1872. He became one of Minton's highest-paid artists and is highly regarded even nowadays. He studied painting in Paris at various decorating establishments including the M. Dreyfus decorating company. He was apprenticed as a figure painter at the Sevres National Porcelain Factory working for Hippolyte Evariste Etienne Fragonard .