Porcelain

European, Chinese and Japanese porcelain

Porcelain production, the subject of much envy since the Middle Ages, was long unknown to the West. Princes and crowned heads from all over Europe took advantage of trade with the Far East to obtain the finest Chinese porcelain - the secret of which was closely guarded. Experiments at Saint-Cloud, Chantilly and Vincennes, and above all at Meissen and Sèvres in the 18th century, led to the discovery of kaolin, marking the birth of a European history of porcelain.

Galerie Atena boasts a rich collection of antique porcelain, including pieces by Sèvres, Samson and Meissen, as well as small vases from Satsuma or the "famille rose", which bear witness to this eventful history and ongoing exchanges with the Asian continent. The collection includes porcelain de Paris tea and coffee services, vases mounted as lamps, vases in biscuit with antique decor, Rocaille clocks, inkwells, Dagoty table mantels, bowls decorated with mythological scenes, Medici vases with large cartouches depicting landscapes or bucolic scenes. Gallant couples, country scenes, mythological characters, landscapes, bouquets of flowers or musical attributes decorate these objects in hard or soft porcelain. Pendulums and decorative porcelain objects signed Jacob Petit or Gustave Asch complete this exceptional collection of 18th and 19th century porcelain.