Plate from a dessert service in the style of 18th century Sèvres
Merton was not very lucky with his Sèvres purchases; he was led astray by either unscrupulous or ignorant dealers. Throughout the 19th century, demand amongst collectors for 18th century soft-paste Sèvres led to the redecoration of plain pieces (known as ‘clobbering’) and false marks being added. The situation was exacerbated as the Sèvres factory was forced for economic reasons to sell blanks, undecorated stock, during the French Revolutionary period. It was easy to acquire genuine Sèvres pieces, decorate them, add false marks and sell them. It was a case of ‘buyer beware’ with even experienced dealers being duped. In the case of this richly decorated dessert plate, with pseudo Sèvres marks, a dealer’s label claims ‘Minton’, the famous Stoke-on-Trent factory, was the maker, but even this is not correct. Perhaps the dealer was misled by the letter ‘M’ which would have indicated the painter.
During the Victorian era, Minton came the closest to replicating the qualities of 18th century soft-paste Sèvres. The repeating pattern on the border, dotted circles against a beau bleu (baby-blue) ground, is known as oeil-de-perdrix or partridge eye. Derby was one of the very few English potteries to attempt this, using it to enrich pieces by senior painters. The reserves of flowers are surrounded by raised enamel beads. This type of ‘jewelling’ was reserved for pieces of the highest quality, notably royal commissions. The central panel shows a tavern scene in the style of the Flemish artist David Teniers (1610-1690). This too is surrounded by jewelling. Such rich decoration would have appealed to Victorian taste.
