0:00:02 > 0:00:06To many of us, French porcelain is something we consider to be,
0:00:06 > 0:00:09at best, kitsch, and at worst, vulgar.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15But behind the flowers, cherubs, gilding and gloss,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17is a hidden story of the 18th century.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Sevres porcelain is the fusion of art, industry,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24and absolute monarchy,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28all coming together to create something exquisite.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Absolute perfection.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32The colours are so vibrant.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35You recognise a Sevres piece across the room.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40Sevres porcelain is a symbol of immense power, money, and privilege.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44They cost the equivalent of millions of pounds
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and represented the pinnacle of human ingenuity.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52They are fantasies about a material, and that's the key thing.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56You look at its skill, its manufacture,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58its sublime perfection,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02but underneath, you sort of want to smash it up.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04First collected by the French court,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09over the centuries they have been passed through the hands
0:01:09 > 0:01:11of rich collectors worldwide.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Dame Rosalind Savill, a world authority,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17is one of the few people actually allowed to touch it.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21It was such an explosion of genius.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23All these pieces are extraordinary.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Now being filmed out of their cases for the first time, in this film,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33she will take us up close to some of her favourite pieces of Sevres,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36revealing the secrets of their creation
0:01:36 > 0:01:38and their incredible owners.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Former director of the Wallace Collection,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Dame Rosalind Savill has devoted her life to Sevres porcelain.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58Objects that represent
0:01:58 > 0:02:02the unbelievable skills of 18th-century France,
0:02:02 > 0:02:03as well as the desires and demands
0:02:03 > 0:02:07of an autocratic regime that was heading for revolution.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13As valuable now as they were when first produced, Sevres' intricacies
0:02:13 > 0:02:18and opulence speak of wealth, sophistication, and prestige.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21They have always been sought after by collectors,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24eager to associate themselves with Sevres' power.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Often people find it hard to appreciate Sevres porcelain today,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31because they see it as over-elaborate, crudely coloured,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34richly gilded, and they can't really see
0:02:34 > 0:02:38how it could ever have had a function in the world for which it was made.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And yet, all these pieces are extraordinary.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43They are made for the glory of France,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47to celebrate the technical wizardry that could be brought to bear
0:02:47 > 0:02:49in making porcelain in the 18th century.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52People find it very, very difficult to look now
0:02:52 > 0:02:55at 18th-century porcelain, 18th-century furniture.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58They kind of think it's bling, it's over-the-top.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00It's all too much.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03We see Sevres through the eyes of what it became,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08in a very sort of kitsch world of the 19th, 20th century.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11So it's quite important to try and see over that
0:03:11 > 0:03:13and back into the 18th century
0:03:13 > 0:03:17to see what was original, and not kitsch about it at all.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21I took my mother to the Wallace Collection,
0:03:21 > 0:03:22and she said to me,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25"Oh, how can you work on this stuff? It's so vulgar."
0:03:25 > 0:03:30And it reminded me of how I felt when I first looked at Sevres.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33And I think you can't empathise with Sevres.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37It isn't something for which we have a natural disposition.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39It's something you have to learn to like,
0:03:39 > 0:03:40and you learn to like it
0:03:40 > 0:03:44by understanding the conditions in which it was made
0:03:44 > 0:03:46and the people who bought it, and what they saw in it.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51When you get close to something, you get an intimate relationship with it.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55As a curator, you get the chance to handle it, to wash it, even.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58And gradually, a romance builds up
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and you begin to imagine it in the hands of the painter,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05looked after by the patron, used in a certain way,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and when you're able to see it closely enough,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11you begin to see how simple each element of it is
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and how beautiful and enjoyable it can become.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20When first seen by 16th-century Europeans,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23porcelain was a thing of wonder.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27But the Chinese closely guarded the secrets of this recipe.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Experiments with porcelain production
0:04:30 > 0:04:33began in France in the late 17th century.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35However, it would take decades for them
0:04:35 > 0:04:38to perfect the material and their skills.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44In the 18th century, the French king, Louis XV, was so intent
0:04:44 > 0:04:49that France produced porcelain superior to all other nations
0:04:49 > 0:04:53that he financed and started up his own factory.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54He later passed a law
0:04:54 > 0:04:58forbidding the production of porcelain by anyone else.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02In 1756, bankrolled by the King,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05the factory moved to new premises at Sevres.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Still open today, this would be the site
0:05:08 > 0:05:12of some of the most incredible porcelain creations ever imagined.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17The name would become synonymous with French excellence in porcelain.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25This magnificent ship is one of the most iconic porcelain models
0:05:25 > 0:05:27of the entire 18th century,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and this is technically superb.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33If you can imagine, you're working with a very difficult soft-paste
0:05:33 > 0:05:37porcelain material which tends to sag and crack in the kiln -
0:05:37 > 0:05:41to get a piece like this to stand up and survive is wonderful.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43And I have to tell you that handling it
0:05:43 > 0:05:45is one of the most humbling experiences.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48And you fear for your life you may damage it.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52And remembering also that when pieces like this were taken to the kiln,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55they were taken often on boards on the shoulder
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and one boozy lunch and a trip on a step, and you've had it.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The piece comes apart at this level
0:06:00 > 0:06:04so that the rigging of the ship is quite separate from the body
0:06:04 > 0:06:08and the two would have been made and fired separately,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10each probably as many as ten times.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Because first, you'd have worked on the paste,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16then you'd have applied the wonderful underglaze blue ground colour.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18It's called bleu lapis.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20And you'd have planned exactly where
0:06:20 > 0:06:23that would have gone on the piece at that very early stage.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24You'd then have glazed it,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28then you'd have applied the overglaze green ground colour,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30then you would have painted the birds and their landscapes,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32and then finally, the gilding,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36which on this piece is absolutely extraordinary.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41You have a sort of worm-tunnel gilding over the blue ground.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44You have crisscross patterns around here
0:06:44 > 0:06:48and further detailing, miraculously, right through the rigging,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53and finally, the fleur-de-lys of France on the pennant at the top.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59And blowing all the way down across the rigging and the sails
0:06:59 > 0:07:03and enhanced with little gilded fleur-de-lys inside and out,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07giving it its French royal connections.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10This is the first time it's been taken out of a case
0:07:10 > 0:07:11and filmed in this way,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13and it really gives you the chance
0:07:13 > 0:07:15to sort of get to know funny little touches.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17I adore this monster here.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20He's got sort of rushes in his hair, a very sad face
0:07:20 > 0:07:24because his mouth is prised open to hold this magnificent bowsprit.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29And you've got his little gold teeth shining at either side.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31The whole thing is ingenious.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34But it's also got the most extraordinary function.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It was intended to be a potpourri vase.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43Ships such as this one made and sold to an 18th-century French courtier
0:07:43 > 0:07:47cost the equivalent of £58,000.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50But its prestige wasn't only about its value.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53The ship design had a strong symbolism that would have
0:07:53 > 0:07:56been well understood.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In 1761, when this vase was made,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03the French Navy was in the middle of the Seven Years War.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08This intricate design would have sent out celebratory messages
0:08:08 > 0:08:13of patriotism, power, and empire, all from a salon mantelpiece.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14We can take the lid off.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17It's frightening, this!
0:08:19 > 0:08:23And see how truly spectacular it is.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Just imagine cutting the paste to give this fabulous effect
0:08:27 > 0:08:30of sails and rigging and rope.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Think about firing it in the kiln.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34How on earth you would support it
0:08:34 > 0:08:38without it plunging into a sort of lump at the bottom of the kiln?
0:08:38 > 0:08:40And when you turn it over...
0:08:42 > 0:08:46..it's just a beautiful abstract piece of art in the middle. Fabulous.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Ten of these shapes were made in the 18th century.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Enormously important with the court, as you can imagine.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57And there's a lovely story that in England in the 19th century,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01when Lady Dudley's husband had to sell her example,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03she was too embarrassed to show her friends
0:09:03 > 0:09:05that they'd fallen on hard times,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and Lord Dudley had to have the English factory of Minton
0:09:09 > 0:09:10make an exact replica for her
0:09:10 > 0:09:14so that she wasn't embarrassed in front of her friends
0:09:14 > 0:09:17at losing her delicious piece of Sevres porcelain.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27When you look at an amazing boat vase,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30and you've got this galleon with winds behind it
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and this intricacy of the mast and the rigging
0:09:33 > 0:09:36and different grounds of colour
0:09:36 > 0:09:40and you've got gilding, and you've got everything going on,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44you've also got someone who's actually had a fantasy
0:09:44 > 0:09:46about what porcelain can be.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The process of making porcelain is close to alchemy.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56It requires a mastery of science and engineering,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59the right recipe for a very fine paste of clay,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and the correct combinations of other minerals.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05And then the kiln.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07It must reach very high temperatures.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Between 1,200-1,400 degrees Celsius each and every time it's used.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Porcelain is the purest kind of clay
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and it's got a sort of transcendent whiteness to it.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22It's got an aspirational quality.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25It is the whitest thing on earth.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29In fact, the first mix made in France, called soft-paste,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31wasn't a true porcelain.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It was made without the pure white clay of the Chinese original,
0:10:35 > 0:10:36called kaolin.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41A classic hard mix paste of kaolin, quartz and other minerals
0:10:41 > 0:10:44took decades to discover.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47But it was the soft-paste that created the incredible
0:10:47 > 0:10:50intensity of colour for which Sevres is famous.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52What people don't realise about making pots
0:10:52 > 0:10:54is they think a pot gets made,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58gets glazed, gets fired, and that's it.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01But this is an enormous, laborious process.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04First, the pot gets made, partly thrown,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06partly made from moulds.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11They are assembled, they are fired, then they are glazed.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Every colour of enamel that is used in a pot
0:11:14 > 0:11:16fires at a different temperature,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18so you have to fire enamel
0:11:18 > 0:11:21that can withstand the highest temperatures first
0:11:21 > 0:11:22and work your way down.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26And then the gilding is done at the end, and at all the stages,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28they can develop firing cracks,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32they can have something wrong with the glazing,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35and a lot of pieces during the making process are discarded.
0:11:35 > 0:11:42I do look at Sevres as a piece of art and as an industrial process.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46It's the sum of the parts that makes the art object.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00In the early 18th century, a new style called the Rococo emerged,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04embellishing everything with curves and curls.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07It rejected the heavy pomposity of the Baroque
0:12:07 > 0:12:11in favour of lightness, playfulness, pleasure.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16It was perfect for exploring the possibilities of porcelain.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19With rococo, the artificial could echo nature.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23At its simplest with Sevres,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27pressed lumps of clay imitate delicate pearls of a specific flower
0:12:27 > 0:12:31to be admired close-up. An intimate pleasure.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34And if you don't drop it, an undying one.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Porcelain flowers, fresh all year round for centuries.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44The word "rococo" comes from "rocaille",
0:12:44 > 0:12:47meaning rocky or uneven ground.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50It applies to the whole natural world of woods and gardens,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54trees, flowers, streams and shells.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58The rococo took the pleasure of nature indoors.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02The rococo is defined by asymmetry, because it has a tendency,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07a disposition, to allow the design to go out of control.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10It allows for an element of chance in design.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13An element of idiosyncrasy, if you like.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15It's something that hasn't appeared before,
0:13:15 > 0:13:16isn't immediately recognisable.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And that gives it a kind of semantic lightness,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22because it's to some degree meaningless.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26So it's light on both fronts. Witty, if you like.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31The wit and frivolity of rococo was a welcome contrast
0:13:31 > 0:13:35to the authoritarian tone of the French court.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39The most powerful monarch in Europe, Louis XV,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41wasn't a light-hearted man.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43So it would take someone he trusted
0:13:43 > 0:13:47to slowly introduce him the latest ideas of design.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52That person was his mistress, Madame de Pompadour.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56She made it her job to provide the King with pleasure
0:13:56 > 0:13:57in every conceivable way.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02A lover of the playful fun of rococo,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05she would go on to become the impresario of Sevres.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Madame de Pompadour was very, very well-connected,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and she was seen as a sort of front woman
0:14:13 > 0:14:18for a group of financiers and political figures at court.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22They realised that Louis XV was sort of footloose and fancy-free.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27People thought that he was actually on the lookout for a new mistress,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31so there is a sense that this group planted Madame de Pompadour there.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34She was exceptionally beautiful at this stage in her life,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and she was always a very dynamic
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and, at the same stage, very seductive and charming person,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and it was a sort of coup de foudre,
0:14:43 > 0:14:44a love at first sight.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Almost straightaway, she was in his bed.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52The relationship was really consolidated
0:14:52 > 0:14:55at a tremendous ceremonial ball that was held,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00and again, the King was seen as the available wallflower, if you like,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04and famously went dressed as a piece of yew tree hedging.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Although a number of his guards also went in the same disguise,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and it was alleged that numerous women
0:15:10 > 0:15:14were throwing themselves in bushes, literally, in the bushes,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17only to find they were not in the arms of the King,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20but in the arms of one of his soldiers.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22But that was when their relationship really got going.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Straightaway, people were saying, "She is the new mistress."
0:15:33 > 0:15:36I think she has a very acute psychological sense
0:15:36 > 0:15:37of what Louis XV is like,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41and he's essentially rather morose and melancholic,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44and she realised this, that she has to cheer him up.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48She has to provide an endless show, an endless performance,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53which plays to his sense of pleasure and pulls out of him a sense of fun,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56which he frankly doesn't have himself.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59So she sees Louis XV as her project.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01She has to provide an environment
0:16:01 > 0:16:04in which he can feel more of himself,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06more happy in their relationship.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Madame de Pompadour was installed into the rats' nest,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15where a crowded colony of courtiers lived in small rooms,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18hidden away at the top of the King's palace.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22Her rooms were on the north side of Versailles,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24but a clandestine staircase
0:16:24 > 0:16:28linked Louis XV's courtly rooms to the warmth of her bed.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32After a day of onerous public duties,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36night-time offered the King a climb to somewhere more personal.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Somewhere designed for intimacy.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42And Madame de Pompadour's rooms were of course furnished
0:16:42 > 0:16:47with all her favourite personal porcelain objects.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Madame de Pompadour's dressing table might have looked a bit like this,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54though she would probably have had a white muslin cover on the table
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and a wonderful mirror placed where I am
0:16:57 > 0:16:59that was dressed also in white muslin,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02probably in front of the window so she got really good light
0:17:02 > 0:17:06when she sat at her dressing table using her cosmetics.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10In the French court in the mid-18th century,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13the toilette was a daily public ceremony
0:17:13 > 0:17:17when important women were dressed and made up before an audience.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19To create the right look,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23they required hairdressers to add hairpieces,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25powdered white or even coloured.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Ornaments were also worn in the hair, called pom-poms,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31after Madame de Pompadour herself.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Make-up which marked someone out as aristocratic
0:17:36 > 0:17:38was heavy and artificial-looking.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Faces were painted shiny white with lead-based make-up,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45as well as the liberal use of rouge.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48And then servants would of course be needed
0:17:48 > 0:17:52to help them get into their corsets and dresses.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Because this was a very public event,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56she would have wanted beautiful objects
0:17:56 > 0:18:00for each of the different potions and lotions that she required.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02And some of the ones that are here
0:18:02 > 0:18:04may well have been exactly what was on her table.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07The lady would have had boxes for hair powder.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Here's a wonderful one where you can see the flowers
0:18:10 > 0:18:14and the corn which was used in the preparation of hair powder.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15She would have had two, probably,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18because they would each have had different scents,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20and this one is absolutely wonderful,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23because you see a high-relief meadow flower, the blue ribbon.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24It's so special.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28It was a big pot, because you had a wide puff for your hair powder,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30and then I love this bit.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34When you open the lid, it has a gold mount around the rim.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37This is because you had to keep mites out of your hair powder.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41It had to be absolutely airtight, because nothing would have
0:18:41 > 0:18:44been more ghastly than putting itchy mites all over your head.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46So that was for hair powder.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Now, no self-respecting mite would go near this pot,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53because this was also for your hair, but this was for pomade,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and it would have been a very greasy substance
0:18:55 > 0:18:59you would have applied to your hair, so no gold mounts.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01But you did need gold mounts for this little piece.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03This is a face patch box.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Face patches were made of black velvet or taffeta,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and you stuck them on your face using an animal glue.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Unfortunately, that was just as popular with the mite,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13and therefore you needed a gold mount
0:19:13 > 0:19:16to protect your skin from itching too.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Now, you had two brushes in a service like this.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22One, very obviously, is the clothes brush.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Nothing particularly unusual about this.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31Long bristles, sturdy back to it.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34But this is the real magic. Look at this.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36This is in fact a vergette,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and it was for dusting the wig powder off your shoulders.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42And it's the only one we know in the world.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And because the toilette took such a long time,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48you needed certain foods and drinks to be served to you.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50You might have had a morning soup.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54A clear consomme, served to you in a special covered bowl like this.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58You might also have been served tea, coffee, or chocolate,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and you would have used a covered cup and saucer like this.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03And look how deep that saucer is.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Because if the drink was very hot,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09you could pour the liquid into the saucer, hold it in two hands,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and drink it like this
0:20:11 > 0:20:15before putting it back on your dressing table.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And all of this would have got you sticky fingers,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22so you had your equivalent of a plumbed-in wash basin
0:20:22 > 0:20:23with this beautiful jug and basin.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Not only has it a marvellous shape for the warm water
0:20:27 > 0:20:30that would have been put in there, lid keep it hot,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33look at that shell-shaped mount to separate the lid
0:20:33 > 0:20:35to make sure it doesn't get lost.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40And look at the gilding rock work and rococo waves,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43which are matched in the basin where you would have poured water
0:20:43 > 0:20:46and then you could have rinsed your hands with the water
0:20:46 > 0:20:49splashing around these wave patterns.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55And when not in use, they always sat back in the middle like that.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59So there you were, pampered and perfumed, ready to face the day.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Madame de Pompadour received a lot of courtiers
0:21:07 > 0:21:11who came here to visit her in her bedroom at her toilette table,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14and she played music here.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17They also played theatre and, you know,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Madame de Pompadour was always trying to occupy the King,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23who was of a very melancholic temper.
0:21:23 > 0:21:30And she always tried to find new sources of "amusements",
0:21:30 > 0:21:32as we say in French.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38But always very clever and nice entertainments, I would say.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40One of these "entertainments"
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Madame de Pompadour used to lighten the King's mood
0:21:45 > 0:21:47was a clever visual trick.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51A new kind of beauty, astonishingly executed.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Madame de Pompadour filled vases with porcelain flowers,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59each a painstaking and brilliant copy of the real thing.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03She would change them regularly and on a winter's day,
0:22:03 > 0:22:04she even scented them
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and placed them in the King's conservatory to cheer him up.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Porcelain was always at the heart of Madame de Pompadour's world.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17And her love of filling rooms with select furniture pieces
0:22:17 > 0:22:20and personalised ornaments neatly coincided
0:22:20 > 0:22:23with the growing expectation that all aristocratic homes
0:22:23 > 0:22:26should contain a variety of objects.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29What you get in the 18th century
0:22:29 > 0:22:32is a sort of reduction towards the domestic.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Still grand, still very beautiful, it's still majestic in its way,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38but it's more small-scale.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42The 18th century sees a sort of revolution in domestic objects.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Furnishings have broken down, they've become more functional,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50less multifunctional than the objects of the past
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and more attuned to the pleasures and the conveniences of everyday life.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Small apartments like Madame de Pompadour's
0:22:59 > 0:23:02needed objects that often did more than one job.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05And when you think how the important novelty was,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08a new gadget to startle and amaze everybody,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10this piece absolutely fits the bill.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13It gives you two clues as to what it was used for.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16The painted decoration shows that it was intended to be
0:23:16 > 0:23:19a perfume burner, to make a room smell glorious.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20And the chicken on the top,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24that it was actually used also for steam-cooking an egg.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27When you look at the painted decoration, it's rather wonderful.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32You have here flowers from which you can make perfume,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36and you can see a happy little cherub sniffing the vaporised
0:23:36 > 0:23:39perfume in the urn in his hands.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41And the flowers are made into the liquid perfumes
0:23:41 > 0:23:43that you can see in these little glass bottles,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45a number of them fitted into a box,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47and you would choose which perfume
0:23:47 > 0:23:50you wanted your room to smell like on that particular day.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53And rather wonderfully, the story is again repeated
0:23:53 > 0:23:57but with a slight twist on the section in the middle here.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Once again, you begin with your flowers to make the perfume.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Then you have your little box of unguents to pop into the urn.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09There you have your urn emitting lots of steam
0:24:09 > 0:24:10and perfume for you to enjoy.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And if you're very lucky, it can make you fall in love.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16And there's the quiver and the heart,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18pierced through with the arrow.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22An ingenious concoction, beautifully illustrated.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Perfume was an important part of 18th-century court life.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Indulging another of their senses, it rose to an art form.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37With this perfume burner, the potpourri vases,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40and the porcelain flowers,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44Sevres intimately associated itself with beautiful smells.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49With Royal perfumiers employed to create new and astounding aromas,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53as this ingenious functional and decorative object shows,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55the French court once more set itself apart
0:24:55 > 0:24:58from the world of ordinary people.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00And what of the chicken on the top?
0:25:00 > 0:25:02It's said that Madame de Pompadour
0:25:02 > 0:25:05kept special breeds of chickens on the roof at Versailles,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07and I love to think that perhaps occasionally,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09a egg would be popped through her window
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and she could have it steam-cooked in her room,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14perhaps on a day when she wasn't very well,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16or just as a surprise for her friends.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Recently, a dealer in France managed to find
0:25:19 > 0:25:22some metal fittings in an example like this,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and he proved that it took three minutes to steam-cook an egg.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29You put oil and a wick in the little dish inside here.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Suspended above it was a metal tube filled with water.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35It had a cap with three hollow prongs
0:25:35 > 0:25:38which projected into this middle section here.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Your egg balanced on the top,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43but three minutes later, your delicious egg.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46So in one tiny, strange-looking object,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50you suddenly get a marvellous sense of how life was lived
0:25:50 > 0:25:53at Versailles in the 18th century.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56The magic of different objects performing different roles
0:25:56 > 0:26:01and all of them slightly zany and quirky and exciting.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09The object I really found charming is the little egg warmer.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11The little chicken with its cosy,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14because it's something that is actually for domestic use.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16For very wealthy domestic use.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21Maybe it wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for the absolute monarchy.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23And of course, you can't say,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26"Oh, it's a good thing there was absolute monarchy
0:26:26 > 0:26:27"because it produced that."
0:26:27 > 0:26:32But if that is a by-product of absolute monarchy,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34we are lucky to have it.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39It's the same as religious paintings
0:26:39 > 0:26:43are a by-product of religion.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Surprisingly for such a playful style,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51rococo played a serious part in the function of the official court.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54It might seem a contradiction that an autocratic,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59absolute monarchy would surround itself with such a frivolous style.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01But it was precisely because of their wealth
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and power that the 18th-century French court
0:27:04 > 0:27:07could indulge in the decoration of rococo.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11So, rococo Sevres, full of pleasure and pretty decoration,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14was on display right at the heart of power.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Quite a lot of Sevres porcelain is display-ware.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20It's the way in which the aristocracy, the monarchy,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22make present their power,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26even if it's cultural power rather than political power.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30It's a form of display, absolutely intrinsic to their identity.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37Porcelain's high value was only part of what made it a symbol of power.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39A fragile material,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43it also had the flexibility to withstand elaborate designs,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and unlike other works of art, its vibrant colours never faded.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Porcelain, as a material,
0:27:49 > 0:27:56is susceptible to expressions of extraordinary power.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01It's able to be used by the people who see that
0:28:01 > 0:28:05and realise that porcelain can have an incredible effect
0:28:05 > 0:28:07on their own countries and
0:28:07 > 0:28:10on their own sense of who they are as leaders.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12And it symbolises a sort of transcendence
0:28:12 > 0:28:17beyond the everyday common and garden object,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20into something which is completely different.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23It's the sort of thing you show to other people.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25And that, again, fits in with what we know about
0:28:25 > 0:28:27the nature of court society in the 18th century
0:28:27 > 0:28:29and the very public,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34overt theatricality that was going on for the most part in Versailles.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38The court is so colossal, compared with anything else.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40If you look at the site plans at Versailles,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42everything was focused on the King.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Wherever he moved, he was followed by a retinue
0:28:45 > 0:28:47every moment of the day.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51It was the performance of majesty in an almost theatrical way.
0:28:53 > 0:28:54This meant that France had to be
0:28:54 > 0:28:57the most distinguished, the most civilised,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00artistically, the most cultivated power in Europe.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05So we see from the 17th century, the King was constantly supporting
0:29:05 > 0:29:08those decorative arts which would provide
0:29:08 > 0:29:11the prestigious decor of his everyday life.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Porcelain was becoming the thing to own.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20If the King was buying it and displaying it,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22any noble who wanted to be noticed
0:29:22 > 0:29:25needed to have their own pieces of Sevres.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Each client's desire to own unique pieces
0:29:29 > 0:29:33fuelled the artistic imagination of the Sevres factory
0:29:33 > 0:29:37and increased the variety of possibilities for decoration.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42Some people find it difficult, actually, with 18th-century design.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45That it seems very fussy, or it seems very artificial.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47But in rococo design,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51you get pieces which are clearly composed of parts,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55and those parts are signalled so that you know
0:29:55 > 0:29:59that this is porcelain that's been mounted up.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04A huge amount of care is taken in making sure that every element,
0:30:04 > 0:30:09every surface that there is, has been thought about, pre-planned.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Some kind of decoration has been put on it or not put on it,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14depending on the balance of the piece.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18No-one is trying to disguise the fact that this is made
0:30:18 > 0:30:20by a number of different artisans and that these things are brought
0:30:20 > 0:30:25together in one piece and there is a real appreciation of the way in
0:30:25 > 0:30:29which any given piece is the result of collaboration between artisans.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34In order to maintain its incredible standards of craftsmanship
0:30:34 > 0:30:38and excellence, Sevres had to make sure that it trained
0:30:38 > 0:30:42and kept the very best artists and craftspeople working at the factory.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49Some joined as artisans, rising up to become respected artists.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Others, already artists in their own right, were employed to bring
0:30:53 > 0:30:55the very best of skills to Sevres.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Each and every one of them ensured that Sevres was able to keep on
0:31:00 > 0:31:03producing breathtaking objects, year after year.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Many of the artists and designers who worked at Sevres were
0:31:08 > 0:31:13academicians, so in that sense, they belonged to an artistic community.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16They may have been producing designs which were then
0:31:16 > 0:31:19executed by artisans who were not members of the Academy,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23but there is that sense if you like that the artistic idea is there.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28And on occasion, Sevres was exhibited at the Academy salons,
0:31:28 > 0:31:33so it also is being shown alongside painting and sculpture
0:31:33 > 0:31:37as an object that's worthy of the same kind of aesthetic consideration.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43At Sevres, the artistic director was Jean-Claude Duplessis,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46who invented and imagined many of the most famous rococo
0:31:46 > 0:31:50forms of Sevres, even perfecting a special lathe to create
0:31:50 > 0:31:54some of his innovative signature styles.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59Sevres' most sought-after painter was Charles Nicolas Dodin.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03He joined at 20 and with his talents quickly recognised,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05he was made a painter of miniatures -
0:32:05 > 0:32:09the most prestigious painting work in the factory's hierarchy.
0:32:11 > 0:32:12His perfect work graced services
0:32:12 > 0:32:15for the King and Madame De Pompadour.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Dodin worked at Sevres for 49 years,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22becoming one of the factory's highest-paid painters,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24earning 100 livres a month -
0:32:24 > 0:32:27almost ten times that of the average worker.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33The fine gilding of Sevres was integral to its appeal.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37A gilder called Le Guay, who, despite losing an arm in battle,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41was so respected that Madame De Pompadour personally intervened
0:32:41 > 0:32:44to get him out of the army and back working at the factory.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Sevres' exceptional standards also attracted established artists.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55In 1757, the renowned sculptor Falconet, already a celebrated
0:32:55 > 0:33:00artist and academician, was taken on as Sevres' director of sculpture.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05Sevres was a powerhouse of talented artists and craftspeople,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09all devoted to constantly changing,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11re-imagining and perfecting.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Now here we have one of the most
0:33:13 > 0:33:17bizarrely brilliant vases ever created in porcelain.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21Duplessis, the great designer at the factory, created a tour de force,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23a technical piece of genius,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27and you might well ask where on earth did he get his crazy ideas from.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Well, it's thought that the bottle shape was actually after a Chinese
0:33:30 > 0:33:35prototype, and the feet are from contemporary silverware in Paris.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37But most bizarrely extravagant
0:33:37 > 0:33:41and exciting are these extraordinary elephants' heads on either side.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45They and the neck of the vase too appear to have been influenced
0:33:45 > 0:33:48by the post-mortem of an African elephant that was
0:33:48 > 0:33:51published in Paris in 1755
0:33:51 > 0:33:55and Duplessis was aware of this publication and one thing noted
0:33:55 > 0:33:57about the dead elephant was that
0:33:57 > 0:34:00the tip of an elephant's trunk was like the neck of a vase.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02He's reversed the idea
0:34:02 > 0:34:05and he's given us this extraordinary elephant's-trunk neck.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08He's extruded the heads of the elephant and upturned
0:34:08 > 0:34:11their trunks in a really crazy way
0:34:11 > 0:34:13to support these pairs of candleholders.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19So from being a rather imaginative design object, it gains
0:34:19 > 0:34:21a function and a use in the great rooms
0:34:21 > 0:34:23in which it would have been displayed.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27The detailing of the decoration is equally extravagant and exciting.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31The green ground was a brand-new colour in commercial terms
0:34:31 > 0:34:35and here it has a particular blue-ishy, turquoise tone,
0:34:35 > 0:34:37very much a rococo colour.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39It provides the outlines for different
0:34:39 > 0:34:42kinds of reserves of decoration.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47If you look, the whole vase is decorated to be seen in the round.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52In the centre, you have fabulous cherubs after Francois Boucher.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Boucher's drawings were provided to the factory
0:34:55 > 0:34:59and here you have wonderful cherubs dressed in coloured drapery -
0:34:59 > 0:35:01notice their little wings...
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Holding torches or bows and arrows
0:35:04 > 0:35:06or garlands of flowers.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11On many Sevres vases, the reserves would be painted with
0:35:11 > 0:35:15miniatures which reproduced fashionable works of art.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18The work of Francois Boucher,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21the most celebrated rococo artist of the day,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24and a favourite with Madame De Pompadour,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28was regularly immortalised on porcelain by Dodin.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Although these were reproductions, to 18th-century eyes,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35they were viewed as works of art and were similarly prized.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39Rather wonderful are the garlands of flowers you see in the fluted
0:35:39 > 0:35:44sides of the piece. Echoed in the brilliant gilding, they look
0:35:44 > 0:35:46like sprays of wildflowers
0:35:46 > 0:35:50that frame the main scenes of the children.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54But even better is the gilding used to produce the wrinkles
0:35:54 > 0:35:58on the trunks of the elephants and the highly-burnished tusks.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02You can see how beautifully the elephants' heads are modelled
0:36:02 > 0:36:05and how the modelling is then picked up by the colouring of the eyes,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08from the eyebrow to almost a pinky eye shadow
0:36:08 > 0:36:12and then the strange, deep, dark eyes themselves.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16They look out at you from these rather gnarled foreheads.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Best of all, look at how the hairs are gilded in the elephant's ears -
0:36:20 > 0:36:25wonderful naturalistic details, hugely individual.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28They are what give a vase like this such an incomparable place
0:36:28 > 0:36:31in the history of ceramics.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34It's rather scary, lifting this up, but if you tip it up,
0:36:34 > 0:36:37you'll see the interlaced Ls associated with the factory.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40L for Louis XV,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43D, the date letter for 1756 to 7
0:36:43 > 0:36:44and K,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48the mark of Charles Nicolas Dodin... We're not sure why he used a K, but
0:36:48 > 0:36:52it's always found on the best vases with cherub decoration at this time.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56Despite the success of the model, it had a real problem in the kiln,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00not least the upturned elephants' trunks tended to sag,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03so Duplessis was sent back to the drawing board to come up with
0:37:03 > 0:37:05something that was a little bit more resilient
0:37:05 > 0:37:09and something that could go into more general production.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11So, here is Duplessis' second version.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15He's added a supportive handle here in order that the trunk remains
0:37:15 > 0:37:19turned upwards, which it needs to be to support the candleholders on top.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24And he added this beautiful headdress, created of jewels and
0:37:24 > 0:37:27pearls to decorate the forehead
0:37:27 > 0:37:30of the elephant, with a pear drop
0:37:30 > 0:37:33falling down between his eyes.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Most ingeniously, Duplessis has created a little square hole
0:37:37 > 0:37:39in the upturned trunk, across
0:37:39 > 0:37:42the flat surface of the trunk...
0:37:43 > 0:37:47And here is the porcelain peg which is equally square
0:37:47 > 0:37:52and fits very gently, but absolutely precariously into the hole...
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Now, look at the two elephant vases together.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00One not having a handle to support the trunk,
0:38:00 > 0:38:01the other having the handle...
0:38:01 > 0:38:03The tonality of the green colour,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05much more turquoise
0:38:05 > 0:38:09in the earlier vase, a slightly harsher green in the later one.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13And the use of flowers between the beads on one, and not on the other.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Nothing is so telling as the differences
0:38:15 > 0:38:20in the personalities of the elephants themselves.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23The appetite for change and innovation at Sevres meant that
0:38:23 > 0:38:28designs and styles changed every year as the factory went out of
0:38:28 > 0:38:32its way to show off its ambition and capabilities to the French court.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36I think the French fashion cycle that evolves over
0:38:36 > 0:38:39the 18th century is actually very modern, it is really
0:38:39 > 0:38:43the beginnings of fashion as a way of merchandising,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45essentially, and selling things.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Every year, when the new styles are out, they bring
0:38:48 > 0:38:51it into the Royal Court, they display it, they actually I think
0:38:51 > 0:38:56take it out of the cardboard boxes and put it on tables,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59and actively encourage their courtiers to buy it,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02so it becomes almost Louis XV as salesperson,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04if you like, for his own object.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10But in the 1760s, the fashion in Sevres changed dramatically,
0:39:10 > 0:39:15responding to a new style that was gaining popularity.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Following the excavations in Herculaneum in 1738
0:39:19 > 0:39:22and in Pompeii ten years later, ancient,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25classical artefacts circulated the Royal Court.
0:39:26 > 0:39:32Influenced by the classical finds, a new style began to take over.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33It was called neoclassicism.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Suddenly, the old rococo pieces started to look old-fashioned,
0:39:39 > 0:39:43it's once-prized frivolity now out of step with the new seriousness.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Always attuned to the fashions,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Sevres began to experiment with this new style.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56There is both a zeal for reform that comes in with the 1750s
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and a sense that the Crown is seen to be responding to accusations
0:39:59 > 0:40:02that it's lost its way in terms of its cultural direction
0:40:02 > 0:40:05and that it ought to go back to a grand 17th-century tradition
0:40:05 > 0:40:07of classicism.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10But neoclassicism is new, I mean, it's doubly new,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12in that it's not entirely like the 17th century
0:40:12 > 0:40:15and it's not entirely like antique classicism.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24In 1764, Madame De Pompadour died and ten years later,
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Louis XV followed her.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were crowned King
0:40:31 > 0:40:33and Queen of France,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37heading a court whose tastes were becoming increasingly extreme,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40including of course the new-look Sevres.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44As their indulgent tastes and lifestyles became more
0:40:44 > 0:40:49and more excessive, so did the inequality in the country.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Resentment towards the court grew.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55Marie Antoinette's hairstyle was said to be so big,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58she had to kneel when riding in the royal carriage.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Sevres' influence went beyond the French court,
0:41:03 > 0:41:05through strategic diplomatic gifts.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Catherine the Great, another decadent
0:41:08 > 0:41:10and powerful European monarch,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12decided a Sevres service was
0:41:12 > 0:41:15just the thing to send a powerful message to her own court.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20She placed a spectacularly large order with the factory.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22It was to be a glorious dinner service
0:41:22 > 0:41:24which included ice cream cups
0:41:24 > 0:41:26and an ice cream cooler.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32In 1776, Catherine II, the great Empress of Russia
0:41:32 > 0:41:35commissioned a modern style that she wanted to introduce into Russia
0:41:35 > 0:41:37from western Europe
0:41:37 > 0:41:40and also something that would make a huge statement at court,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43both about her skills and education,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45her aspirations for Russia
0:41:45 > 0:41:47and her smartness of her table.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Her commission kept the factory busy for three years.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56The designs for the plates alone were changed eight times.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00The incredible figural centrepiece was made up of 91 pieces,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04at the heart of which was a model of Catherine herself,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08represented as Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13She also had a fantastic collection of antique cameos.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16She had over 10,000. Luckily, so did Louis XVI,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18and the Sevres factory was allowed to go
0:42:18 > 0:42:22and look at his and copy them in order to create the classical
0:42:22 > 0:42:24elements that were to be incorporated
0:42:24 > 0:42:26in this staggering dinner service.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30Her commission was for 800 pieces
0:42:30 > 0:42:31and the factory worked out that
0:42:31 > 0:42:33to make 800 of sufficient quality
0:42:33 > 0:42:37and the very elaborate designs that she had selected,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40that they would need to make 3,000 pieces and discard hundreds
0:42:40 > 0:42:42because of damage in the kiln.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Of course, this was to affect the price to Catherine as well.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49It may at first look as if this is a historical
0:42:49 > 0:42:51document of classical scenes,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54but then when you look more closely, it's got a strange effect,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58sort of frozen icicles dripping down the sides, providing a handle.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03It's got heads here that look as if they might be river gods with
0:43:03 > 0:43:05fabulous bulrushes in their hair
0:43:05 > 0:43:08and their plaits tied round.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Just imagine the extraordinary luxury of eating ice cream
0:43:11 > 0:43:12in the 18th century,
0:43:12 > 0:43:16reflected in a bowl with a cover like this which enabled you to fill
0:43:16 > 0:43:20an inner liner with your ice cream or sorbet and put crushed ice
0:43:20 > 0:43:23and salt in the outer part of the bowl
0:43:23 > 0:43:26and piled high in the steep-walled cover here,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30in order to keep it insulated and cool until you were ready to eat it.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32What an extraordinary thing.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35For the Sevres factory to realise Catherine's incredibly
0:43:35 > 0:43:39complicated desires, they had to start from scratch.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43They employed Boizot to create classical scenes and then they had
0:43:43 > 0:43:49to make these cameos, that was part of Catherine's absolute instruction.
0:43:49 > 0:43:50They invented hundreds
0:43:50 > 0:43:54and hundreds of these to use on each piece in the service.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59But even more glorious, to reflect Catherine's passion for cameos, they
0:43:59 > 0:44:05also made, on the grandest pieces, four cameo heads each in relief.
0:44:05 > 0:44:06How were they going to make these?
0:44:06 > 0:44:08Well, firstly they decided to make them
0:44:08 > 0:44:11in the new hard-paste porcelain that was more resilient
0:44:11 > 0:44:15because they wanted to cut them on a stonecutter's wheel.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18Then they literally redirected a river to give them
0:44:18 > 0:44:21the water power for the mills.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24You get these wonderful little painted scenes, you get the heads to
0:44:24 > 0:44:28reflect some of the characters that appear in those scenes
0:44:28 > 0:44:31and they immediately, with the shape of each piece,
0:44:31 > 0:44:34give a completely new classical flavour to the service.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39But it doesn't end there - you've got extraordinarily dainty pearl
0:44:39 > 0:44:43beading to look also like jewels on the pieces.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47You have bands of flowers and best of all, inside the lid,
0:44:47 > 0:44:52you have Catherine's own monogram - E2, Ekaterina the second,
0:44:52 > 0:44:53on every single piece.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57So nobody would be in any doubt who had commissioned it
0:44:57 > 0:45:01and who it was for and who was the genius that thought up such
0:45:01 > 0:45:03an extraordinary service for her table.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06It will be no surprise to know that this service was
0:45:06 > 0:45:08extraordinarily expensive.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10This ice cream cooler alone was valued
0:45:10 > 0:45:14when it left the factory at ten times more than the former ice cream
0:45:14 > 0:45:17coolers that had been made in simpler designs.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21It was about 30 times the wage of an average worker at the factory,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24so almost a lifetime's earnings.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28The entire service cost Catherine over 330,000 livres.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33The cost is equivalent to someone spending £16 million today.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42It was seen as a hugely successful project,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46so much so that King Louis XVI arrived at the factory in May 1779
0:45:46 > 0:45:50to celebrate its completion, to admire what had been made
0:45:50 > 0:45:52and to give each of the workers a bonus.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Catherine the Great loved her service, but while she ate from
0:45:57 > 0:46:03her gilded plates in St Petersburg, revolution was fermenting in France.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07The Palace of Versailles was being surrounded by an unhappy populace.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12In July 1789, the Bastille was stormed
0:46:12 > 0:46:15and soon after came the Declaration of Rights.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17But things wouldn't be complete
0:46:17 > 0:46:20until they had the heads of the King and Queen.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
0:46:23 > 0:46:25were both guillotined in 1793.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31Sevres, the Royal factory, had made its name with extraordinary objects
0:46:31 > 0:46:35that reflected the monarchy's decadent tastes and lifestyle.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39With hindsight, Sevres porcelain looks like the product
0:46:39 > 0:46:42of a regime blind to its own faults.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47I think one can really see the Ancien Regime in the pots.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50It's all about wealth, it's all about ostentation,
0:46:50 > 0:46:55there's very little human humanity in it.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57It's all about the rich people.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59The Sevres, it's so full of its self-importance
0:46:59 > 0:47:02and I think if the French aristocracy had been able to laugh a
0:47:02 > 0:47:07bit more at themselves, maybe there wouldn't have been a revolution.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Despite its associations with the aristocracy,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13these breakable luxury items survived the revolution.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Rather than being smashed by Republicans, remarkably,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21aristocratic Sevres remained intact.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24The moulds and busts of royalty were destroyed,
0:47:24 > 0:47:28but the Sevres factory and its workers were left alone,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32surprising survivors of a bloody and destructive revolution.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36The manufacturer at Sevres may have been created by the monarchy,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40but the people who work for it aren't monarchists, necessarily.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43They may be employed by the King and the art that comes out of them
0:47:43 > 0:47:46is seen as a great triumph of French spirit,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50if you like, rather than monarchical taste.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53So I think it does have the prestige, but there is a sort
0:47:53 > 0:47:55of reinterpretation of it,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58not as a symbol of the greatness of Bourbon taste,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01but as a sort of triumph of French craftsmanship.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06Transformation was always at the heart of Sevres.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09It had the vitality and flexibility to enable it to move
0:48:09 > 0:48:13away from any lingering associations with monarchy.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup
0:48:18 > 0:48:21and he became Emperor of France in 1804.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25He quickly realised that Sevres was just the thing to cement
0:48:25 > 0:48:27the image of his new French Empire.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32He rescued a near-bankrupt business.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36Sevres now took on Napoleon's Empire style - classical
0:48:36 > 0:48:38but supercharged and bombastic.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43With the monarchy gone, it was no longer wise to have those old
0:48:43 > 0:48:47aristocratic pieces of Sevres on your mantelpiece in France.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49So where did they go,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53the great pieces that once filled the Palace of Versailles
0:48:53 > 0:48:54and the chateaux of France?
0:48:56 > 0:49:00The wealthy British became the new avid collectors of Sevres.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Chief amongst them was George IV,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07known for his extravagant tastes and already a lover of Sevres.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10He and other British aristocrats were able to amass their own
0:49:10 > 0:49:13collections from French auctions
0:49:13 > 0:49:17and sales which were soon bulging with Sevres treasures.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19Owning a piece of the Ancien Regime
0:49:19 > 0:49:23became the ultimate British fashion statement.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25The antique dealers and curiosity
0:49:25 > 0:49:27dealer shops were filled with
0:49:27 > 0:49:29great treasures and of course
0:49:29 > 0:49:31the British contemporary
0:49:31 > 0:49:35collectors of Sevres admired it in the spirit of a connoisseur -
0:49:35 > 0:49:37the colour of the paste and the gradations of colour
0:49:37 > 0:49:39and the richness of the tooling.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42George IV was drawn to it because it was exotic
0:49:42 > 0:49:46and it was luxurious and he chose bold forms
0:49:46 > 0:49:50and bright colours which made very clear statements
0:49:50 > 0:49:52in his formal rooms.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56He was also interested in terms of the history of the pieces
0:49:56 > 0:50:01and almost perpetuating the Ancien Regime in his own residences.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06And so, at around 300 pieces, the British royal family acquired
0:50:06 > 0:50:09perhaps the greatest horde of Sevres in the world.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14But other significant collections were made by English
0:50:14 > 0:50:16aristocrats in France.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19From the late 18th and into the 19th century,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22all of them were keen to associate themselves with the prestige
0:50:22 > 0:50:26and sophistication of the French aristocracy.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31The Wallace Collection in London, now a national museum,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34contains the riches acquired by Richard Seymour-Conway,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37the 4th Marquess of Hertford.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41He was born in 1800 and brought up in Paris and as the fourth
0:50:41 > 0:50:45generation of a family who admired and collected 18th-century art
0:50:45 > 0:50:48and objects, he was one of the richest men in Europe.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53The 4th Marquess left his entire estate in collection
0:50:53 > 0:50:56to his illegitimate son, Richard Wallace.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59It is through him that the extraordinary collection
0:50:59 > 0:51:03of one family, kept at Hertford House, was left to the nation.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07The British aristocracy had been gradually selling up with
0:51:07 > 0:51:11increasing speed as the 20th century drew closer
0:51:11 > 0:51:14and the trappings of the British aristocracy were in turn
0:51:14 > 0:51:19being appropriated by the new bankers and industrialists.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23A whole gamut of decorative art from the French Ancien Regime had
0:51:23 > 0:51:28immediate appeal because they really spoke so unequivocally of luxury
0:51:28 > 0:51:32and refinement and that's precisely the sort of lifestyle these
0:51:32 > 0:51:35new bankers and industrialists were hankering after.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39So by surrounding themselves with their view of...the French
0:51:39 > 0:51:4018th century,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43they were really making a bold statement about who
0:51:43 > 0:51:46they thought they were in society and they were the ones who,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49by the late 19th century, wielded the wealth.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53Chief among them was Baron Ferdinand De Rothschild,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57one of the greatest collectors of the whole 19th century,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00with a keen sense of historically important objects.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Baron Ferdinand was the most extraordinary collector.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06It's said of the first ship vase that he bought, he was
0:52:06 > 0:52:09so nervous about what he'd paid for it that he daren't admit to
0:52:09 > 0:52:12anyone quite how extravagant he had been.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, completed in 1883,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20was Baron Ferdinand De Rothschild's dream home.
0:52:20 > 0:52:21A country house with the style
0:52:21 > 0:52:26and proportions of an 18th-century French chateau.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29It was filled with all his favourite objects and artwork,
0:52:29 > 0:52:33assembled to please and impress weekend guests, including
0:52:33 > 0:52:39his close friend and the future king, Edward VII, Prince of Wales.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41And here you see this potpourri vase set on the most magical
0:52:41 > 0:52:45piece of Louis XVI furniture by Riesener, with the most
0:52:45 > 0:52:49extraordinary pictorial marquetry, gleaming gilt bronzes
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and the Sevres sits perfectly on it.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53And then, when you look up above,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57you see a marvellous portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds
0:52:57 > 0:53:01and this combination of English portraiture, great French furniture
0:53:01 > 0:53:04and fabulous Sevres porcelain was to be the hallmark of
0:53:04 > 0:53:09Baron Ferdinand's great celebration of his collection at Waddesdon Manor.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14Now we need to go and meet him, seated over here in a portrait...
0:53:14 > 0:53:18looking surprisingly formal and rather austere for a man who
0:53:18 > 0:53:22celebrated great works of art from 18th-century France.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Although he collected his first piece of Sevres porcelain at only 21,
0:53:25 > 0:53:29his collection really began in 1867 after the death of his wife,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31Evelina, in childbirth.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35That was to lead him to concentrate all his energies
0:53:35 > 0:53:38and enthusiasms in building the collection to furnish this
0:53:38 > 0:53:39magnificent house.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42He loved to surround himself with beautiful things
0:53:42 > 0:53:43and this room is so special.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45It was his own personal sitting-room,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48known as "the Baron's room".
0:53:48 > 0:53:50It reflects exactly the things he loved most.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53If you look around the walls, they're largely covered with
0:53:53 > 0:53:56fabulous portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01All portraits of women - that obviously mattered enormously to him.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05The furniture in here is the best furniture from the reign of Louis XVI
0:54:05 > 0:54:09and yet it has this wonderful sense of comfort and liveability, somewhere
0:54:09 > 0:54:14you could sit and enjoy the great beauties that you had around you.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Baron Ferdinand - we know from a photograph - enjoyed
0:54:16 > 0:54:21sitting in this chair here, and I love to think of him sitting
0:54:21 > 0:54:24and looking up at the mantelpiece where you see five
0:54:24 > 0:54:27extraordinary neoclassical vases
0:54:27 > 0:54:30that Louis XV bought in 1769.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34They show you very strong neoclassical forms,
0:54:34 > 0:54:38decorated in monochrome enamel colours called grisaille decoration,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40intending to look like classical heads
0:54:40 > 0:54:45and medallions from ancient Rome, and they are surrounded by great
0:54:45 > 0:54:48bunches of flowers, tied with pink ribbons.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The blue ground and the gilding all show it off so beautifully,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55particularly as you can see them reflected in the mirror, so they
0:54:55 > 0:55:00have this lovely sense of roundness, the whole decoration can be seen.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04Of course, in a room where they were shown lit by candlelight
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and with the fire playing below them,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10all the gilding would have just become alive in this room.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Now we move from the formal Louis XV vases to our old friend,
0:55:15 > 0:55:16another elephant vase.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Here's an extraordinary one.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22You might be forgiven for really not liking it, because the combination
0:55:22 > 0:55:25of the pink and the green ground colours
0:55:25 > 0:55:27might just be a bit too much.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31The ground colour is the pink, with bright green frames
0:55:31 > 0:55:35and I find the combination utterly seductive!
0:55:35 > 0:55:38I think it takes a kind of daring
0:55:38 > 0:55:42and courage that it's just wonderful.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45The willingness to take risk, both technically
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and in terms of design at Sevres is astounding.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53And quite unprecedented, I would say.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57Sevres continued to follow the money,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59from Baron De Rothschild
0:55:59 > 0:56:03to the new American multimillionaire collectors, like JP Morgan...
0:56:05 > 0:56:08..all seeking to acquire their own little bit of Louis XV,
0:56:08 > 0:56:12his power and glamour.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16But as the 20th century progressed, with the clean lines of modernism
0:56:16 > 0:56:19in full sway, tastes changed radically.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25The style of Sevres might not be easy for contemporary eyes, but
0:56:25 > 0:56:30they are pieces of perfection, each one an extraordinary achievement
0:56:30 > 0:56:34and a product of an 18th-century golden age of art and technology.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38And it is this inheritance that has kept the factory going
0:56:38 > 0:56:40for over 250 years.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46At Sevres, as well as creating contemporary pieces,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50they still make objects from 18th-century designs.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54Sevres porcelain continues to be the ultimate collectable item
0:56:54 > 0:56:57for the super-rich around the world, all keen to
0:56:57 > 0:57:00acquire their own piece of perfect porcelain.
0:57:00 > 0:57:05However, the opulence and grandeur of Sevres has for a long time
0:57:05 > 0:57:08seemed way out of step with modern taste.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12I think there was really a period in time that you couldn't say
0:57:12 > 0:57:14that something was beautiful.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17I think it's OK for things to be beautiful again.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21There is a sense in which you can learn really to appreciate
0:57:21 > 0:57:24the complexity and the difficulties that have to be
0:57:24 > 0:57:28overcome in order for these pieces to come into an existence.
0:57:28 > 0:57:29Doing that doesn't seem to me
0:57:29 > 0:57:33that that means we're approving of the regime that produced it.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Otherwise, we'd be in danger of saying that we could only
0:57:35 > 0:57:38admire those things that were produced in democracies
0:57:38 > 0:57:40and democracies that we APPROVE of, well...
0:57:40 > 0:57:43No-one is going to pretend that the Ancien Regime, you know,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46didn't have its problems! To say the least.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48But Sevres wasn't one of those, I mean,
0:57:48 > 0:57:53Sevres is a phenomenal artistic achievement for the period.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56What porcelain gives you, which is so special, is it gives you
0:57:56 > 0:58:00the real sense of the colour of the time in which it was made.
0:58:00 > 0:58:05It took such a technological explosion of genius to produce
0:58:05 > 0:58:10a great piece of porcelain. But the net result was superlative quality.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14It's still as vibrant and brilliant as it was when it was made,
0:58:14 > 0:58:15therefore you can look at this
0:58:15 > 0:58:20and you can inhabit the world for which it was intended.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22It's magic.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50Subtitled by Red Bee Media Ltd