A Boar Hunt

A forceful small-scale hunting scene—a specialty of artists such as Alexandre-François Desportes (French, 1661-1743), painter of hunt and animal scenes for King Louis XIV and Louis XV—is painted in enamel on hard-paste porcelain, a method that allowed for richer hues than the subdued colors of soft-paste. Eighteenth-century viewers would have delighted in the jewel-like quality of the porcelain and the sheer beauty of the craftsmanship. Plaques such as these—produced primarily by Vincennes and Sèvres in the 18th century—were usually mounted on desks, tables, commodes, cabinets, and clocks, but the finest examples were often framed and displayed as paintings.