Pair of SÈVRES Art Nouveau vases, ca. 1900

Pair of vases SÈVRES Art Nouveau, ca. 1900.
Porcelain and bronze.
With signature marks on the base.
Measurements: 36 cm. height.
Pair of Sèvres vases fin de siècle. They follow in their decoration the Art Nouveau aesthetics to whose period they belong. Graceful fluvial nymphs surrounded by chrysanthemums and zigzagging vegetal stems decorate the oval bellies. The foliate handles and the base are made of gilded bronze.
Originally founded in Vincennes in 1740, the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres was transferred to this location in 1756. One of the main European porcelain factories, the Manufacture was successively named after different political regimes: royal, imperial and national manufactory. Still in activity today, the firm continues to edit the objects created since 1740, although its current production is largely oriented towards contemporary creation. The Manufacture de Vincennes was founded with the support of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, with the idea of creating pieces for the court and competing with the porcelain productions of Meissen and Chantilly. The first experiments were carried out by the brothers Robert and Gilles Dubois, who came from the manufacture of Chantilly. Important results were obtained as early as 1745, under the direction of the Gravant couple, especially the creation of models of porcelain flowers to decorate all types of pieces. The new building in Sèvres was built on the initiative of Madame de Pompadur. Three years later, it was named a royal factory, and from that moment on it would use fine gold, the only one with this privilege in all of France. During the French Revolution, the factory suffered a decrease in production, but experienced a resurgence between 1800 and 1847 under the direction of Alexandre Brongniart. From the middle of the 19th century, the dominant styles were eclecticism and historicism, and some models recovered typologies of the past, such as the mannerism of Fontainebleau and the baroque of Versailles.