The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Figure Seated on a Lion

c.1740–45
manufacturer

Chantilly Porcelain Factory

(French)
France, 18th century
Tin-glazed soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration
Overall: 18.3 x 30.5 x 12.1 cm (7 3/16 x 12 x 4 3/4 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1983.60
Location: 216A French and German

Did You Know?

The duke of Bourbon’s menagerie was recorded in the dedication to Jean-Antoine Fraisse’s Livre de Desseins Chinois (Book of Chinese Drawings), a book that documented the decoration on the duke’s collection of Asian porcelain, lacquer, and textiles.

Description

Exotic animals were highly coveted symbols of status and wealth. The practice of housing them in a centralized complex was popularized by French King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles. This lion, along with other animal figurines produced at the factory, may have been modeled after living examples housed in the menagerie established by Louis Henri, duke of Bourbon, prince of Condé, and founder of the Chantilly porcelain factory.
  • R. Henry Norweb, Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Musée du Louvre. La porcelaine française de 1673 à 1914. Paris, 1929. p. 29, no. 328
    “Recent Ceramic Acquisitions by Major Museums: Supplement.” The Burlington Magazine 127, no. 986 (May 1985). p. 344, fig. 50
    Le Duc, Geneviève. Porcelaine tendre de Chantilly au XVIIIe siècle: héritages des manufactures de Rouen, Saint-Cloud et Paris et influences sur les autres manufactures de XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Hazan, 1996. p. 146
  • The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).
    Highlights of the Rococo: Norweb Ceramics and Related Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8, 1983-June 3, 1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure Seated on a Lion|url=false|author=Chantilly Porcelain Factory|year=c.1740–45|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.60