Bridgerton & Ceramics

Flowers, flowers, flowers

Madame de Pompadour already knew it, and fortunately for the makers of Bridgerton, it is also abundantly clear: a person can never have too many flowers around him, and certainly not at a grand ball. The first ball of this season is given by Lady Danbury and we see Queen Charlotte in a fantastic setting:

We can imagine that Danbury was inspired by our Madame de Pompadour. The marquise organised the most amazing parties, in which she managed to create whole new worlds. In November 1750, she gave a spectacular opening party for her new pleasure garden Bellevue. Despite the cold winter, there was a wealth of the most beautiful flowers, of Vincennes porcelain that is. To make them even more real to all the senses, they were sprinkled with perfume. All to the delight of King Louis XV. Madame de Pompadour was a big fan of these lifelike handmade flowers. After she received a crate of melons from the Duke of Newcastle in 1751, she sent him mounted Asian porcelain with porcelain flowers and she wrote about these flowers as coming from her garden. 

Blue and White: always a good choice

Asian porcelain has been wildly popular since its first introduction in Europe. At first, it was nice to own a single piece, but soon the motto was more the better and preferably as large as possible. Augustus the Strong went to extremes and managed to amass a collection of almost 30,000 pieces of Asian porcelain. He not only bought the many pieces, but also bartered with other monarchs. His most famous exchange took place in 1717 with the King of Prussia, Augustus exchanged 600 cavalrymen (so-called Dragonders) from his own army for 151 vases of Chinese porcelain, decorated in underglaze blue. One of these spectacular Dragonder vases, measuring almost a metre high, is now on display in our exhibition.

For the characters in Bridgerton, it is significantly easier to go with this blue and white fashion. The market and antique shop clearly have a large stock of this still-popular commodity.

Large Asian vases are also seen in the interiors of the characters. The hall of the Bridgertons, in particular, is decorated with several hefty specimens. Here, the very large vases are arranged on pedestals in the hall. Often such big objects were ordered in sets of five or eight in China, after which they were placed in Europe for decoration in the fireplace during the summer months, among others. Two of the large vases in this scene are decorated in the so-called Imari palette, in which the underglaze blue is combined with black, red, green and gold enamels. This type of decoration was first used in Japan, but was soon adopted by Chinese porcelain decorators and was very popular in Europe.

Love for classical antiquity

In the late 18th century, stylish Europeans began decorating their homes with objects inspired by classical antiquity. French factories join this trend early on, and in England, Josiah Wedgwood is style king in this field. His factory complex Etruria produces the most fashionable objects. This fashion is in full swing at the beginning of the 19th century and this is well reflected in the Bridgerton interiors.

Violet Bridgerton pours her daughter a cup of tea from a white teapot decorated with a blue and white motif, clearly borrowed from examples from the classical world. Our museum's collection also features several teapots with classical decors, including this beautiful pot by Wedgwood.

The love of classical antiquity can also be seen in Bridgerton in the many Empire vases made of French porcelain. We saw them, among others, in the bedroom of the young Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton, in the interior of Lady Featherington and in the chilly parental home of Cressida Cowper.

More is more

In the 18th century, the marchant merciers, the style kings of Paris, start upcycling existing ceramics en masse. To keep the European and Asian porcelain appropriate to the extravagant rococo interiors, the pieces are fitted with gilded mounts, sometimes complemented by, for example, porcelain flowers or other porcelain.

Bridgerton's interiors also feature several mounted porcelain items, such as this pair of candelabras in Queen Charlottte's palace.

New to the ‘ton’

Nightclub owner and boxer Will Mondrich and his wife Alice suddenly become part of the ‘ton’ this season, when their eldest son inherits the title Earl of Kent with the houses that go with it. Needless to say, we were on the edge of our seats when the family was given a tour of their newly-acquired 27-room London city palace. Particularly in the hall and staircase, we spotted several interesting ceramic objects. At the bottom of the stairs, for instance, is a statue in the shape of a tea-drinking gallant couple. This was a popular subject to depict in European porcelain from the 18th century onwards, and in our Porcelain Fever exhibition we have included an early example of this executed by the Meissen factory:

In the stairwell, we next saw an ensemble of three pieces of Asian porcelain, with a striking yellow vase in the centre. It is possible that this vase is decorated with common lucky motifs. Indeed, the decoration on Asian ceramics is not just for decoration, but always carries a positive meaning or message. This has to do with the custom of giving ceramics as gifts, and of course you then wish the other nothing but good fortune. The two bowls flanking the yellow vase are decorated with flowering plants in the famille verte palette, with green enamel predominating. This type of Chinese porcelain is a successor to the aforementioned, richly decorated Imari and found just as eager a demand among European consumers.

Conversation starters

Taffy decorations are an essential part of any grand banquet. The Vicennes/Sèvres factory was the first factory in Europe, in the mid-18th century, to start producing these figures in bisquit, that is, without glaze and color. These bisquit figures are a beautiful and durable alternative to the candy decorations that were common until then. At dinner parties, tables were decorated with these statues, which served as conversation starters. Our exhibition Porcelain Fever features several examples of these types of early statues. They depict subjects such as literature, the classical world, romance or the so-romanticized country life. At the ball where Penelope Featherington starts her first very awkward conversation with a potential suitor, we saw two rather out of place table decorations/candlesticks.

Bouquets everywhere

In all interiors we saw beautiful bouquets. From a modest vase with a simple bunch of flowers in the fashionist's store, to the most extravagant floral arrangements.

In the salon of the Bridgertons, we saw a basket on a high base of European porcelain containing a flower arrangement; we saw the same basket in their porcelain cabinet in the hall, opposite the door that gives access to this salon. Since the series is set in England (and we secretly just like it better) we like to show off our Wedgwood basket.

Plates to look at

Finally, we saw porcelain plates decoratively displayed in several places. At the Bridgertons, we saw two different types, both decorated on the flat with flowers and one set with a wide gilt rim and the other with a rim in light blue.