The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 21, 2025

Figure Group of the Festival at the Chateau (La fête au château) or the Model Fidelity (La fidélité modèle)

1766
(French, est. 1756)
(French, 1716–1791)

after a design by François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)
France, Sèvres, 18th century
unglazed soft-paste porcelain (biscuit)
Overall: 21 x 16.5 x 15.9 cm (8 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 6 1/4 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1966.234
Location: 216A French and German

Did You Know?

The introduction of Sèvres porcelain figures modeled after the Opéra-Comique’s theatrical productions may have resulted from the friendship between François Boucher, designer of many early Sèvres porcelain figures, and Charles-Siméon Favart, director of the theater in 1758.

Description

Recognizable porcelain figures and figure groups modeled after contemporary theatrical works produced by the Parisian company Opéra-Comique were produced at the Vincennes factory as early as 1752. This group illustrates a scene from a play credited to Charles-Siméon Favart, Fête au Château (Festival at the Castle), when the gardener Jacquot and his love Colette reunite.
  • R. Henry Norweb, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Bourgeois, Émile. Le biscuit de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Goupil, 1909. Vol. 1, p. 63; vol. 2, p. 11
    Les Biscuits de la manufacture nationale de Sevres, XVIIIe siecle & XIXe siecle. Paris: A. Guerinet, 1910. pl. 60
    Bourgeois, Émile, and Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard. Le biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: P. Lafitte, 1914. no. 304, pl. 11
    Réau, Louis. Etienne-Maurice Falconet. Paris: Demotte, 1922. p. 269, 514
    Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. Les oeuvres de la Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. Vol. 1, La sculpture de 1738 à 1815. Paris: Ministère d'état chargé des affaires culturelles, 1932. p. 10, no. 314
    "Biscuits de Sèvres." Cahiers de la Céramique et des arts de feu (1967).
    Berges, Ruth. "Soft-Paste Biscuit Figures from Vincennes and Sèvres." Connoisseur, vol. 166, no. 669 (November 1967). p. 194-99
    Musée national de céramique. Sèvres, Musée national de céramique: nouvelles acquisitions, 1979-1989. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1989. p. 173, no. 246
    Falconet à Sèvres, 1757-1766, ou, L'art de plaire. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001. p. 156-57
  • {{cite web|title=Figure Group of the Festival at the Chateau (La fête au château) or the Model Fidelity (La fidélité modèle)|url=false|author=Sèvres Porcelain Factory, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, François Boucher|year=1766|access-date=21 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.234