A pair of oval porcelain plaques with floral still lifes
With gilt copper mountings. Incised mark "f.a.72"(?) and one illegible mark. H c. 14, W c. 10 cm.
The porcelain Paris or Sèvres, decor Jacques-François Micaud, attributed, probably 1770s/1780s.
These extremely finely rendered still lifes were painted by Jacques-François Micaud, born in the Jura region in 1732 or 1735, who began his career as a porcelain painter in Sèvres in 1757. Within 20 years he developed into the most talented specialist in floral depictions, as these two objects impressively demonstrate. He painted mainly service pieces, sometimes vases, but also tableaux, of which two rectangular examples, created around 1765, are considered his earliest works of this kind. The paintings of Alexandre-François Desportes (1661 - 1743) or Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636 - 1699) served as inspiration for his own compositions. In the archives in Sèvres there are some botanical watercolours with Micaud's signature, dated 1794/95. Micaud died in Sèvres on 20th April 1811 - just three months into retirement.
Literature
Cf. the tableau in the National Museum Stockholm, inv. no. NMDrh 99.
This painter in Saville, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, III. References, Appendices, Index, London 1988, p. 1049 ff.
Cf. also Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature 1650 - 1850, Paris 2008, p. 383.