The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 15, 2025

Figure of the Dancer (La Danseuse)

1748–52
manufacturer

Vincennes Porcelain Factory

(France, 1740–56)
modeled by

Pierre Blondeau

(French)

after a design by François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)
France, Vincennes
unglazed soft-paste porcelain (biscuit porcelain)
Overall: 21.6 x 14 x 8 cm (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 3 1/8 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1961.10.1
Location: 216A French and German

Description

Although a few Vincennes porcelain figures exist which are glazed, the royal factory adopted at an early date the practice of producing unglazed, biscuit figures which, because of the purity of their material, resemble marble figurines. The fashion for biscuit figures first introduced at Vincennes quickly spread through Europe.
  • R. Henry Norweb, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Chavagnac, Xavier Roger Marie, and Gaston Antoine Grollier. Histoire des manufactures françaises de porcelaine. Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1906. p. 268
    Guérinet, Armand, ed. Les Biscuits de la manufacture nationale de Sevres, XVIIIe siecle & XIXe siecle. Paris: A. Guerinet, 1910. pl. 43, 35
    Bourgeois, Émile, and Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard. Le biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: P. Lafitte, 1913. no. 173, pl. 4
    Les oeuvres de la Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. Vol. 1, La Sculpture de 1738 à 1815. Sèvres: Manufacture nationale, 1932. p. 3, no. 192
    Zick, Gisela. "D'Après Boucher. Die Vallée de Montmorency und die europäische Porzellanplastik." Keramos 29 (July 1965). p. 5, fig. 1a, b
    Dauterman, Carl Christian. The Wrightsman Collection. Vol 4, Porcelain. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1966. p. 283, no. 115
    Préaud, Tamara. Porcelaines de Vincennes: les origines de Sèvres. Paris: Éditions des Musées nationaux, 1977. p. 159, 171
    Brunet, Marcelle, and Tamara Préaud. Sèvres: des origines à nos jours. Fribourg: Office du livre, 1978. p. 227, no. 306
    Guillemé-Brulon, Dorothée. "Le Premier surtout de table en Biscuit de Sèvres." L'Estampille 173 (September 1984). p. 42-45
    Kingery, W. D., and Pamela B. Vandiver. "A Boucher Soft-Paste Unglazed Bisque Sculpture - La Danseuse." Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure, and Technology. New York: Free Press, 1986. p. 179-194
    Préaud, Tamara, and Antoine d' Albis. La porcelaine de Vincennes. Paris: A. Biro, 1991. p. 174, no. 178
    Versailles et les tables royales en Europe: XVIIème-XIXème siècles. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1993. p. 285-86
    Salmon, Xavier. Madame de Pompadour et les arts. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2002. p. 485-87
  • Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure of the Dancer (La Danseuse)|url=false|author=Vincennes Porcelain Factory, Pierre Blondeau, François Boucher|year=1748–52|access-date=15 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.10.1