From Sèvres to Fifth Avenue: French Porcelain at The Frick Collection

Between 1916 and 1918, Henry Clay Frick acquired several important pieces of porcelain made at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, the preeminent eighteenth-century French porcelain manufactory. Purchased from the international dealer Joseph Duveen, these acquisitions included vases, potpourris, jugs and basins, plates, a tea service, and a table, dating from the early 1750s to the late 1780s, which, since the early twentieth century, have been distributed throughout Frick’s Fifth Avenue residence. From Sèvres to Fifth Avenue brings them together for the first time, along with a selection of pieces acquired at a later date, some of which are rarely on view. The exhibition discusses the role played by these objects in eighteenth-century France, as well as during the American Gilded Age at Henry Clay Frick’s residence, and also presents exciting new scholarship. The exhibition is organized by Charlotte Vignon, Curator of Decorative Arts, and will be on view in the museum’s Portico Gallery. Support for this presentation is generously provided by Sidney R. Knafel and Londa Weisman.