Antique Sèvres Porcelain Chromolithograph by Édouard Garnier, Giltwood Frame, Circa 1892

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Blue and gold at their most opulent: a genuine 19th-century chromolithograph of three magnificent royal-blue Sèvres porcelain vases, printed in … Read more Blue and gold at their most opulent: a genuine 19th-century chromolithograph of three magnificent royal-blue Sèvres porcelain vases, printed in colours and heightened with real metallic gold, so the gilded swags, garlands and friezes actually catch the light the way the porcelain itself would. The plate comes from Édouard Garnier's celebrated 1892 survey of Sèvres soft-paste porcelain — Garnier was the curator of the Sèvres museum, and each of his plates was drawn by hand and printed in Paris with the gold applied separately. Among the three vases is a model identified with the one Louis XVI sent as a diplomatic gift to Tipu Sultan of Mysore in 1788 — a conversation piece hiding in plain sight.

The presentation is as good as the print: headed "SÈVRES" with a marbled lapis-blue border, set behind a blue mount with gilt-lined French matting in a carved giltwood frame with an interlaced-ribbon border. The effect is rich, layered, and unmistakably French. Hang it in a dining room over a sideboard, in a study among leather bindings, or anywhere blue-and-white or gilt bronze already lives — it reads like a small museum wall label made beautiful. Lovely alone, spectacular in a group if you're collecting the series. See less