Sugar bowl (pot à sucre ovoïde) 1836 Sèvres Manufactory French The interest in depicting foreign and exotic locations on Sèvres porcelain tea and dinner services begins in the earliest years of the nineteenth century, propelled in part by French Emperor Napoléon I’s (1769–1821) expedition to Egypt in 1798–99. The fascination with Egypt was both profound and long lasting, and some of the factory’s most inventive work is found on services that utilize Egyptian motifs in both two and three dimensions.[1] The curiosity about foreign lands extended far beyond Egypt, however, and the taste for depic

Sugar bowl (pot à sucre ovoïde) 1836 Sèvres Manufactory French The interest in depicting foreign and exotic locations on Sèvres porcelain tea and dinner services begins in the earliest years of the nineteenth century, propelled in part by French Emperor Napoléon I’s (1769–1821) expedition to Egypt in 1798–99. The fascination with Egypt was both profound and long lasting, and some of the factory’s most inventive work is found on services that utilize Egyptian motifs in both two and three dimensions.[1] The curiosity about foreign lands extended far beyond Egypt, however, and the taste for depictions of exotic places lasted into the 1840s.[2] The popularity of this type of subject matter coincided with a growing interest in creating thematic programs for multi-piece services.[3] In a letter from 1834, Alexandre Brongniart (French, 1770–1847), director of the Sèvres factory, stated his belief in the importance of linking sets of objects together by theme, as well as by decorative motifs, which would enhance their quality and appeal.[4] Numerous dinner services and tea or coffee services (déjeuners) were produced in the 1820s and 1830s that illustrate subjects for which both the primary compositions and the secondary decoration were carefully considered and clearly specified.[5] The range of themes was extensive; services depicting subjects as diverse as the départements of France,[6] famous forests throughout the world,[7] and the industrial arts in France[8] indicate the diversity of decorative programs devised by the factory. Déjeuners provided a more limited scope for thematic programs due to the smaller number of components, but a similarly broad range of subjects was chosen to iconographically unite the tray, teapot, milk jug, and a varying number of cups and saucers that formed a typical déjeuner. Depictions of locations within France, both historic and scenic, were increasingly chosen to decorate déjeuners,[9] but foreign lands and customs r

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