Curator of French 18th-Century Decorative Arts, Helen Jacobsen, is interviewed by Orlane and Jessica at the Wallace Collection with the help of Chocolate Films. This podcast is about Sèvres porcelain, manufactured in France even today. This film shows an ice-cream cooler once owned by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, that was part of her 800-piece dining set.
Part of the 'Secrets of the Wallace' podcast series.
Hello, I'm Orlane and we've been researching about Sèvres porcelain. The Wallace has one of the finest collections of Sèvre porcelain and Jess has been interviewing Helen Jacobson about one particular piece.
What is Sèvres porcelain?
Porcelain is made from various types of clay. It is baked at a very high temperature and then covered in a glaze, a lead glaze which gives it a shiny finish. Then the different colours are painted on top of that and then finally the gilding, which you see on some of these pieces, is added.
So would it be difficult to make?
Yes it would and you have to remember they were making it in the eighteenth century when there was no electricity or gas. So the only form of power was wood. In order to make the ovens hot enough to bake the porcelain they had to keep putting more and more pieces of wood into an oven, to get it up to 1200°C.
What would this be used for?
Well this piece was an ice-cream cooler. So the idea was that you would make your ice-cream, put it into the cooler and put it onto the table. The guests would then be able to see this great ice-cream cooler and inside they would know that there was delicious ice-cream for them to eat.
What was ice-cream like back then?
That is a very good question as ice-cream was a bit different. It was served in a runnier form and was made from fruits, cream and chocolate. Some of it was a bit more like today's sorbet, though some of it was cold cream. And it was put into tin liners, which was then buried in a big container full of ice and salt. Over time the mixture would get colder and colder and start solidifying. However, it never got quite as cold as ice-cream is today.
Who was it made for?
Somebody very rich and important! We know that this ice-cream cooler was made for Catherine the Great of Russia. She was the Empress in Russia in the eighteenth century. She was a great patron of the arts and particularly of porcelain. She loved porcelain, the colours and what it did. She ordered many different sorts of dinner services from across Europe, including England, and this piece came from the Sèvres Manufacturer. When it was made it was the most expensive dinner service ever produced at Sèvres. Looking at it you can see why, there is an awful lot of gold, it includes very difficult techniques to make the medallions- altogether a very rich piece!
Thank you
We can't express how bright Sèvres porcelain is so come down to the Front State Room to see it for yourself and look out for more podcasts!
7 сен 2024
