Literature

Porcelain with 'jewelled' decoration was produced at Sèvres in the 1780s, mostly between 1780 and 1782. It was a traditional technique used from the early eighteenth century on enamel on metal, glass and porcelain. It was taken up by the Geneva-born enameller Joseph Coteau who brought it to Sèvres having specialised in making clock dials and small bijouterie objects such as snuff-box fittings. Most Sèvres 'jewelled' pieces were decorated either by Coteau himself or by the Sèvres flower painter Philippe Parpette. According to the archivist Tamara Préaud, out of 396 jewelled objects mentioned in the factory kiln records, 160 were decorated by Coteau.

This gold foil frieze with cabochons and leaf garlands is a characteristic motif found on Sèvres jewelling of the early 1780s. The running pearl trails edging the frieze above and below can be of different colours, but usually the cabochons are red for the round ones and turquoise for the oval ones.

We know of only two pieces of Sèvres bearing Coteau’s signature (he did not have a factory painter’s mark), a vase in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and a cup and saucer formerly with Adrian Sassoon [# 9661].