Louis XV (EN)

Biographical Article

King Louis XV, born in Versailles on February 15, 1710, successively bore the titles of Duke of Brittany, Duke of Anjou, then Dauphin of France from 1712. He was a great-grandson of Louis XIV (1638-1715) and the third son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy (1682-1712) and Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie (1685-1712).The young Louis XV was an orphan when he acceded to the throne at the age of 5, upon the death of his great-great-grandfather on September 1, 1715.

On the death of Louis XIV, Philippe d'Orléans (1674-1723) ensured the regency of the kingdom, and he betrothed the young Louis to his first cousin, Infanta Marie-Anne Victoire of Spain (1718-1781) in 1721, but this marriage never took place.

Louis XV was crowned King of France and Navarre in Reims Cathedral on October 25, 1722, and the young king was declared of age on February 16, 1723.

Shortly after the death of the Regent in December 1723, Louis-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, 7th Prince of Condé (1692-1740) became Prime Minister. The Prince of Condé came under the influence of his mistress the Marquise de Prie, and when it became necessary to quickly find a wife for the young Louis XV, the Prince of Condé chose the candidacy of a Polish princess, Marie Leszczyńska (1703-1768), daughter of Stanislas Leszczynski (1677-1766), dethroned king of Poland. The marriage was celebrated on September 5, 1725 in the Trinity Chapel of the Château de Fontainebleau. The royal couple would go on to have ten children.

After a long illness in 1744 in Metz which almost killed him, Louis XV received the nickname of “Louis the Beloved.” However, his popularity with his subjects declined considerably over the years, due to his lack of firmness in his political decisions, as well as to his dissolute private life. The king was largely influenced by his mistresses, including the Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764) and, at the end of his reign, the Countess Du Barry (1743-1793).

On May 10, 1774, Louis XV died of smallpox at the Palace of Versailles. Under his reign, Lorraine joined the Crown of France in 1766, following the death of his father-in-law, as did Corsica, for which he negotiated with the Genoese in 1768, whereas the colonial power lost territories to the British.

The Collection

Pieces imported from Asia were presented solely in the private quarters of the king, in the decor of his interior rooms.

A Taste for Oriental Porcelain

For his personal use at Versailles, Louis XV ordered a large porcelain table service emblazoned with the French coat of Arms through the French East India Company (Compagnie française des Indes orientales). This table was undoubtedly intended for the new winter dining room set up in 1735 on the second floor of the king's rooms at the Palace of Versailles. This service, made up of pieces of various shapes, was widely used at the sovereign's table until the delivery of the service with a celestial blue background in Vincennes porcelain delivered in December 1753 (AMS, Vy 1, fol. 45 and 45 verso).

On December 16, 1741, Louis XV received a shipment of oriental porcelain, through a delivery for his wardrobe at the Château de Choisy, from the merchant Julliot. This delivery included "two potpourris of Japanese porcelain with white background, with coloured flowers, trimmed with ormolu gilt bronze; a celestial blue antique porcelain lion garnished with an ormolu gilt bronze candlestick with porcelain flowers; another candlestick of white porcelain with ormolu gilt bronze ornaments; two small fruits on antique green porcelain tea pot; two small potpourris on a terrace, with porcelain pagoda" (AN, O1 3313, fol. 72 and 72 verso). These mounted porcelains subsequently created a perfect harmony with the lacquer furniture in the sovereign’s apartments at Choisy.

At the Palace of Versailles, the first official delivery took place on May 18, 1743, through the marchand-mercier Thomas Joachim Hébert (1687-1773) during the provisioning for the wardrobe of the king's new bedroom, of an "antique grey trout porcelain fountain [...] mounted on two large dogs in antique porcelain with a white and coloured background, adorned with ormolu gilt bronze, with a bronze prawn on the lid, the faucet representing a swan, the vase of the fountain circled in the porcelain itself with brown latticework with two movable rings of such porcelain; a bowl under the fountain, of the same antique grey speckled porcelain, decorated with ormolu gilt bronze, which forms the foot and the handles” (AN, O1 3313, fol. 113 verso and fol. 114). This cracked celadon fountain from the Qianlong period then passed into the collections of the Duke of Aumont (1709-1782) until his posthumous sale. Since the Patiño donation in 1985 (V 5251), it has been presented again at Versailles, but without the two dogs, nor the Chinese porcelain bowl, which have now disappeared. On the death of Louis XV, the Duke of Aumont also benefited from the "two smokers", that is to say, Chinese porcelain magots figurines from Dehua, mounted in gilded bronze, which came from a delivery from the merchant Hébert dated July 5, 1743: "two Chinese smokers of white porcelain […] under a cradle of ormolu gilt bronze foliage, adorned with porcelain flowers, placed on a foot of gilt bronze, to the right of one is a silver pan (cassolette) decorated with 3 small vermeil tulips to exalt the smells under the pan is a small silver lamp with tweezers, to the right of the other smoker, is a potpourri of the same porcelain, decorated like the pan” (AN, O1 3313, fol. 121).

For Compiègne, on June 28, 1749, the porcelain merchant Germain Bazin delivered a porcelain fountain for the use of the king of "coloured China, flat on the back, furnished with a silver tap" at 48 pounds, plus 24 pounds for "a large oval bowl of the same porcelain with sides, to put underneath" (AN, O1 2986/2).

At the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux (circa 1703-1758), probably the most famous shop in the capital during the reign of Louis XV, between 1750 and 1757, the king bought many mounted oriental porcelains intended for the castles of Choisy, Compiègne, La Muette, Trianon, and Versailles. A few significant examples: “two potpourri of earthenware from India with reliefs, trimmed in ormolu gilt bronze, 288 L; Two potpourris, Persian porcelain, trimmed in ormolu gilt bronze 192 L” (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, n° 1856); "A large blue vase of old porcelain, mounted in ormolu gilt bronze, 912 L. - Two bottles of celadon-green porcelain, fluted, mounted in ormolu gilt bronze" sold for 600 pounds (Duvaux Journal Book , 1873, no. 2137); "two pairs of small candelabra with two branches, ormolu gilt bronze, on celestial-blue magots, with Vincennes flowers of the same colour" for 528 pounds (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, n° 2192 ); "Two vases in bas-relief of celadon porcelain, mounted with ormolu gilt bronze children & decorations, 1200 L. - Two fluted bottles, mounted in ormolu gilt bronze, 840 L" (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, no. 2700); "Two vases of gray porcelain, speckled in blue, adorned with gilded bronze of moulded gold" at 1,500 pounds (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, n° 3240). These pieces have not been identified.

The Chinese Decorations of the Royal Manufacture of Sèvres

Like Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV obtained some pieces in the Chinese style from the Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres. Between 1760 and 1763, the figure painter Charles-Nicolas Dodin (1734-1803) decorated twenty-seven pieces with Chinese figures and bouquets of flowers from Asia (Rochebrune M.-A de., Splendeur de la peinture sur porcelaine Charles-Nicolas Dodin et la manufacture de Vincennes-Sèvres au XVIII^e siècle, 2012, p. 78-99). Everything purchased by Louis XV was given further decoration at Sèvres inspired by Chinese-style work based on engravings after François Boucher (1703-1770). In December 1762, Louis XV bought a set of decorations composed of "3 Choisy potpourris triangles” for 1,440 pounds and "2 Id. [potpourris] with bobeches" for 720 pounds (AMS, Vy 3, fol. 114). Two of the three potpourris are identified in the Dodge collection in Detroit (71.246 and 71.247). This is a pair of "potpourri triangles" with a light green background of minor size dated 1762. The main faces of these vases show a Soldat et montreuse de curiosités and an Homme et femme chinois, taken from the twelve plates entitled Scènes de la vie chinoise by Gabriel Huquier le Père (1695-1772) after Boucher. Oriental bouquets, also made by Dodin, cover the other faces. At the centre of this set of five pieces is a larger vase called Choisy, to date not located. On the other hand, the vases at the ends correspond to the pair of girandoles or bobechespotpourris from the Louvre (inv. OA 11340 & OA 11305). These pieces are distinguished by Dodin's compositions inspired by Le Thé et Un Couple lisant une lettre, which belong to the same set as the previous engravings.

These original subjects were probably imposed on Dodin by the directors of the royal manufactory, or by the Marquise de Pompadour who collected a quantity of mounted Chinese porcelain that she had copied by the painters of Sèvres.

Furniture and Lacquered Objects

The royal collection of lacquerware from the Far East was enriched at the beginning of the reign of Louis XV with the purchase by Moïse Augustin de Fontanieu (1662-1725), the intendant du Garde-Meuble, of a screen of twelve leaves and thirty boxes in Chinese lacquer on a black background in La Rochelle (AN, O1 3309, fol. 275 verso et fol. 276 ; O1 3336, fol. 352 verso et fol. 353). These elements were soon made available to Parisian marchands-merciers for the manufacture of cabinetwork furniture veneered with oriental lacquer panels. Thus, a screen of six sheets in black lacquer from Japan was supplied to the marchand-mercier Thomas Joachim Hébert on January 27, 1744, to make a chest of drawers, two corner elements, and a desk. These pieces of furniture were intended for the bedroom and cabinet of Louis XV at the Château de Choisy (AN, O1 3313, fol. 143 verso). The imposing chest of drawers with two drawers and doors on the sides of Louis XV's bedroom is now conserved at the Palace of Versailles (inv. no. V.2014.1). A royal residence since its purchase in 1739, Choisy was for a time the site of the king’s romantic relationship with Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle (1710-1751). Furniture painted in French varnish in the manner of Far Eastern lacquers (AN, O1 3313, fol. 99 verso and 106) was ordered from the merchant Hébert for Madame de Mailly’s blue bedroom, which was outfitted in 1742. The chest of drawers (inv. OA 11292) and the corner cupboard (inv. no. OA 9533) are kept at the Louvre.

Most of the sixty-four pieces of lacquer furniture delivered for the service of Louis XV in the royal residences were supplied between 1744 and 1755, a period of splendour in rococo taste. Mostly with a gold lacquer decoration on a black background, a few pieces in red lacquer were favoured by the king, including two chests of drawers intended for the bedroom and study of Louis XV in the brand new Château du Petit Trianon (AN, O1 3316, fol. 51). For the furnishing of the King's corner room at the Palais de Versailles, the cabinetmaker Gilles Joubert delivered, on December 29, 1759, a sumptuous desk in red and gold lacquered oak decorated with pagodas in Chinese-style landscapes "garnished with ornaments of chiseled ormolu gilt bronze that had three drawers” ​​(AN, O1 3317, fol. 44). This exceptional writing table (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wrightsman Collection, inv. 1973.315.1) attests to Chinese taste in one of the most strategic spaces of Louis XV's interior apartment.

The king completed his furnishings with purchases on his personal account from the merchant Lazare Duvaux between 1748 and 1757. His most important acquisition was “a cabinet of old lacq., aventurine background & gold work, with a very beautiful pagoda of lacq. for 2,200 pounds” (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, no. 1614). Louis XV offered his close entourage precious lacquer presents, some of which came from the merchant Duvaux. For example, in May 1751, his daughters the Princesses Adélaïde and Victoire each received: "A thread box (boëte à parfiler) in aventurine & gold lacq., garnished with gold openings &hinges” (Courajod L., Livre-journal de Duvaux, 1873, 805 and 811).

Among the sovereign's personal gems, a few precious snuffboxes and lacquer tablets mounted in gold by Parisian goldsmiths are mentioned in the inventory drawn up after the monarch's death in 1774 (AN, K 153, liasse II).

Even if the king seemed to have appreciated lacquerware, no major lacquered object appeared in the apartments of Louis XV at Versailles, unlike in the secondary royal residences. Under the reign of ‘The Beloved,’ nearly the entire stock of cabinets, chests, and boxes in oriental lacquer were offered up at auction in Paris in 1741, 1751 and 1752, being considered outdated, by the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (AN, O1 3314 , fol. 50, p. 112). The Garde-Meuble de la Couronne almost only preserved the Japanese screens. These sales pleased the marchands-merciers and collectors, as these pieces were rare on the market.

Minister Bertin's political action towards the Middle Empire was widely supported by Louis XV. Henri-Léonard Bertin (1720-1792), who was probably the greatest French Sinophile of his time, maintained a regular correspondence with the French Jesuits in China. The Minister, thanks to the decisive role of the Jesuits, succeeded in obtaining for France the exceptional commission of the engravings of the Conquêtes de l’empereur de la Chine. The king, through Bertin, had a large number of gifts sent to the court of Emperor Qianlong (reign from 1736 to 1795): scientific instruments, Sèvres porcelain and a complete tapestry of the Second Chinese Tapestry (Seconde Tenture chinoise), woven by hand at the manufacture de Beauvais from the sketches of François Boucher.

With Louis XV, the taste for Asian or imitation pieces developed, as with his great-grandfather Louis XIV, in his private apartments at the châteaux of Choisy, La Muette, and Versailles. In official spaces, the king preferred to promote the production of French manufactories, artisans, and artists.