A SEVRES WHITE BISCUIT PORCELAIN FIGURE OF CUPID ('L'AMOUR FALCONET') ON BLEU LAPIS CAILLOUTE-GROUND STAND

CIRCA 1758-1765

Details

After the model by Etienne-Maurice Falconet, Cupid modelled seated holding his right index finger to his lips, reaching for his quiver below, on a cloud-shaped base moulded with a rose-spray, on a dark-blue ground stand gilt with caillouté pattern, painted with panels of flowers and inscribed in black OMNIA VINCIT AMOR
12 1/2 in. (31.7cm ) high overall including base
Lot Essay

First modelled by Etienne-Maurice Falconet, Director of Sculpture at Sèvres (1757-66) in plaster and exhibited at the Salon in 1755, production began in biscuit porcelain at the Sèvres factory in 1758. Madame de Pompadour owned a sculpture in marble of the same model, exhibited at the Salon in 1757, and on 30 December 1758 she was one of the first purchasers of the model in Sèvres biscuit porcelain at a cost of 144 livres. Rosalind Savill discusses Cupid and its pendant figure, Psyche, see The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. II, pp. 823-824, cat. nos. C492-3 and C494. See also the example on similar bleu lapis ground and gilt caillouté pattern base, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (accession no. 45.60.1a,b.).
1. The model is also known as L'armour menaçant, L'amour silencieux and Garde à vous.