Porcelain

European, Chinese and Japanese porcelain

Porcelain production, coveted since the Middle Ages, remained largely unknown in the West for a long time. Princes and crowned heads throughout Europe took advantage of trade with the Far East to acquire the finest Chinese porcelain – the secrets of which were closely guarded. The experiments at Saint-Cloud, Chantilly, Vincennes, and especially those at Meissen and Sèvres in the 18th century, led to the discovery of kaolin, marking the beginning of a European history of porcelain.

Galerie Atena boasts a rich collection of antique porcelain, including pieces from Sèvres , Samson , and Meissen , as well as small Satsuma and "famille rose" , all of which bear witness to this eventful history and the ongoing exchanges with the Asian continent. The collection includes Paris porcelain tea and coffee services, vases mounted as lamps, biscuit porcelain vases with antique decoration, Rococo clocks, inkwells, Dagoty centerpieces , bowls adorned with mythological scenes, and Medici vases with large cartouches decorated with landscapes or bucolic scenes. Gallant couples, pastoral scenes, mythological figures, landscapes, bouquets of flowers, and musical instruments decorate these hard-paste and soft-paste porcelain objects. Clocks and decorative porcelain objects signed by Jacob Petit or Gustave Asch complete this exceptional collection of 18th- and 19th-century porcelain.