Do we know Sèvres? We might know its useful wares of the 18th century: teacups with burnished gold handles, dishes rimmed in celestial blue, vases with pleasant vignettes in central roundels. We might not, however, recognise the Sèvres of the following centuries, when restless tastes shaped ceramics into forms new and strange. Early 19th-century works, bristling with ornament and encrusted with chimeras, fluid nouveau and blocky deco sculpture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, porcelain modern and postmodern – all are on view at the Bard Graduate Center in ‘Sèvres Extraordinaire’. Most of these objects have never been seen in the United States.
Do we know Sèvres? We might know its useful wares of the 18th century: teacups with burnished gold handles, dishes rimmed in celestial blue, vases with pleasant vignettes in central roundels. We might not, however, recognise the Sèvres of the following centuries, when restless tastes shaped ceramics into forms new and strange. Early 19th-century works, bristling with ornament and encrusted with chimeras, fluid nouveau and blocky deco sculpture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, porcelain modern and postmodern – all are on view at the Bard Graduate Center in ‘Sèvres Extraordinaire’. Most of these objects have never been seen in the United States.
