Niderviller Porcelain Factory
Figural Group of Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin

Public Domain

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Maker Niderviller Porcelain Factory (French, active from 1754)French, active from 1754

Modeler Charles-Gabriel Lemire (French, 1741–1827)French, 1741–1827

CultureFrench

Titles

Figural Group of Louis XVI and Benjamin Franklin

Datec. 1781–1785

Made inNiderviller, France, Grand Est

MediumHard-paste porcelain (biscuit)

Dimensions12 3/8 × 9 5/8 × 6 in. (31.5 × 24.5 × 15.3 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Estate of Elizabeth Dabney Charles, the Carol Jean and Michael Moehlman Endowment, and Catherine Gassman

Object numberB.2024.3

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Federal Parlor

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

CERAMICS

DescriptionThis striking figural group of Louis XVI of France and Benjamin Franklin was made in the 1780s at the Niderviller Porcelain Factory in Lorraine, in eastern France. It commemorates the 1778 alliance between France and the newly independent United States, expressed in two treaties that Franklin had been instrumental in negotiating. One treaty recognized the new nation and encouraged trade between them; the other created a military alliance against Great Britain. The French had been aiding the colonies secretly before the official alliance; the Continental forces’ victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 provided the impetus needed to convince France to join the United States in war against Britain. France had suffered a significant and stinging defeat at Britain’s hands in the Seven Years’ War that had ended in 1763, including the loss of large north American territories to Spain and Britain, and was eager to weaken its old enemy. Louis XVI wears a heavy sword, articulated armor, and a robe, all emphasizing France’s international prestige and considerable military might. He stands well above Franklin, extending the treaty scrolls symbolizing the new alliance. Franklin, wearing a fur-trimmed coat that, along with his well-known fur cap, added to his man-of-the-people celebrity status in France, accepts with gratitude and deference. An underlying narrative, of course, is the tension of one monarchy providing support for a popular rebellion against another. Niderviller had been a center of ceramics manufacture—especially of tin-glazed earthenware—well before the middle of the eighteenth century; the porcelain factory was established there in 1749. In 1770, Adam-Philippe, compte de Custine, purchased the concern. Though the royal porcelain factory at Sèvres nominally had a monopoly on porcelain production, the edict was less strictly enforced after Custine took ownership than before, allowing Niderviller’s production to flourish. At the time, the modeling shop at Niderviller was under the direction of Charles Gabriel Sauvage (also called Lemire); the sculpting of this work is attributed to him. It is possible that the figural group of Louis XVI and Franklin had some special, personal meaning to Custine, who had fought in the Revolution along with Rochambeau, whose French troops were instrumental in securing the American forces’ culminating victory at Yorktown. While in America, Custine was among a group of French officers invited to dine at Mount Vernon. Custine presented to Mrs. Washington a Niderviller porcelain coffee and tea service.
ProvenanceSociété industrielle de Mulhouse, France; [Articurial, Paris, December 14, 2023, lot 156]; […]; consigned to [Freeman’s | Hindman, Philadelphia, April 30, 2024, lot 31]; purchased by MFAH, 2024.
Exhibition History“La Revólution Française et L’europe 1789–1799,” Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, March 16–June 26, 1989.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed on scroll: Liberté Des / Mers [Freedom of the Seas] [cusive]
Numbered on proper left bottom edge of base: No. 70
Inscribed on interior, proper back edge of base: MISE / 976.129.1.AD [graphite]; 976.129.1.AD [black ink]; SIM 2008.0.0796 [black ink]

Maker's Mark on proper left bottom edge of base: NIDERVILLER

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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