The Schoolmaster
Medium
Soft-paste biscuit porcelain
Dimensions
Other (confirmed): 8 3/8 × 8 5/8 × 6 1/8 in. (21.3 × 21.9 × 15.6 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
French, Sèvres
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1954
Accession Number
54.147.22
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the enchanting world of 18th French porcelain with *The Schoolmaster*, a soft-paste biscuit sculpture around 1762 by the renowned Sèvres Manuf. Modeled by sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet after a design by the celebrated Rococo painter François Boucher this piece measures about 8½ inches wide and captures a tender moment of education: a schoolmaster instructing young girls in reading. Sèvres, the royal porcelain factory near Versailles, revolutionized European ceramics with its soft-paste formula—a refined clay fired at lower temperatures to mimic Chinese hard-paste porcelain. The ...
About the Artist
Sèvres Manufactory|Etienne-Maurice Falconet|François Boucher · 1740–present
The Sèvres Manufactory, one of Europe's premier porcelain producers, was established in 1740 as the Manufacture de Vincennes under the patronage of Queen Marie Leszczyńska, who sought to rival Meissen and Chantilly porcelains with French soft-paste innovations. Initially a private venture, it relocated to Sèvres in 1756 in a purpose-built facility designed by architect Laurent Lindet near Madame d...