It was usually medium-sized or small pieces of furniture that were decorated with porcelain: commodes, escritoires, "bureaux de dame plats", "serre-bijous", tables etc. Any piece originating from the Sèvres factory has the royal mark on its underside: two interlacing "Ls", one of which is back to front, surrounding a letter indicating the date of manufacture. A for 1753 and so forth. Before this date, Sèvres that had taken over from Vincennes, did not have kaolin, an essential component of porcelain. The marking is usually blue, but sometimes purplish red or gold.
The application of porcelain sheets to quality furniture dates from the middle of the 18th century, reaching its height between 1765 and 1780. The practice was started by Poirier, a Parisian merchant who was under contract to the "Manufacture Royale de Sèvres", a contract later to be taken on by his successor Daguerre. This "pocelaine de France" was used by the great cabinetmakers who supplied the crown - Martin Carlin, Bernard van Risenberg (B.V.R.C.) and Adam Weisweiler. Weisweiler used many new techniques and produced pieces covered in porcelain in its unglazed or "biscuit" condition manufactured in England by Wedgwood. He used Pompeii decors, made fashionable by the recent discoveries of the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Louis XVI Meuble à plaques. Stamped: Carlin. Doc Christie's
Table of "letter-dates" used by the "Manufacture Royale de Sèvres" to indicate the year of manufacture
( Exemple : Letter A = Year 1753 )
Kaolin, aluminium silicate, is the main component of "hard" porcelain. Under Louis XIV when only faience existed in France, research was undertaken following imports of porcelain from China - Chinese kaolin was obtained from seams at Gaoling (Zingdezhen). In France, kaolin was discovered at Saint-Iriex near Limoges, in the 18th century.
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