A decorative Sèvres porcelain egg, "Printemps"
Fired in two parts and screw-mounted. Signed "FROMENT. SÉVRES.", incised "C(?)-67-4 II". H 32.6 cm.
Around 1867, decor by Eugène Froment, presumably after Jean-Louis Hamon.
This Parisian painter and book illustrator Eugène Froment (actually named Jacques Victor Eugène Froment-Delormel 1821 - 1900) was employed as a porcelain painter at Sèvres in 1853 and worked there for over 30 years. Vases with his decor can today be found in the collections of many major museums, including a pair of vases with allegories of the seasons painted in puce camaieu in the Musée des arts décoratifs Paris (inv. MOB NAT GMLC 637.1 et 2), the "Vase de Salamine" from 1877 in the Musée d'Orsay, two vases after a design by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse from 1883 in the Swedish National Museum (NMK 2370/1885), the vase and cover "L'Embarrass du Choix" from 1862 (acc. no. 8079&A-1862) and a further vase with putti from 1856/57 (acc. no. 8067-1862) in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. All vases are characterised by delicate overglaze decor in camaieu or reduced polychromy.
Jean-Louis Hamon (1821 - 1874), on whose designs several of these motifs were based, was hired as a porcelain painter at Sèvres in 1852. He described his own style as "neo pompeiian".