CIRCA 1805-15, INCISED LETTERS AND NUMERALS

Spurred on by Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt (1798-1801) and the subsequent publications by Baron Dominique Viviant Denon and his contemporaries, the fashion for Egyptian revival design proved popular throughout the decorative arts in the early 19th century. Both Sèvres and Paris porcelain factories excelled in recreating ancient Egyptian and Greek forms in combination with decorative techniques such as matt and tooled gilding and simulated bronze grounds. The present baskets are similar in design and colouring to the Ecritoire Egyptienne made by Charnou at Sèvres in 1802. See Marie-Nëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum 1740 to the Present Day, London, 1997, p. 52, fig. 51.