Sèvres Biscuit Porcelain Wild Boar Hunt Centerpiece, “La Chasse au Sanglier,” 1898

A dramatic and finely detailed table centerpiece from the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, depicting two hounds bringing down a wild boar atop a naturalistic rockwork mound. The model, La Chasse au Sanglier (The Wild Boar Hunt), was created in 1776 by Pierre Blondeau after the celebrated hunting compositions of Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755), and remained among the factory’s most admired sculptural subjects for prestigious table settings.

Executed in unglazed white biscuit porcelain, the group shows why Sèvres favored this medium for sculpture. The matte, marble-like surface carries every crisp detail, from the taut musculature of the animals to the bristled hide of the boar and the textured foliage and ground, without the glare of glaze. It rests on its original integral paneled white porcelain plinth, finished with hand-applied gilt-line banding.

Marks
The underside carries a full set of original factory marks:

• “S.98” oval stamp: Sèvres manufacturing mark, dating the porcelain body to 1898

• “Doré à Sèvres / 98” circular stamp: iron-red decorating mark showing the gilding was done at the factory the same year

• Impressed and incised marks: the “SEVRES” cartouche, along with repairer’s and molder’s codes (“AD - 28” and “AD - 12 - 96 - PN T”) identifying the artisans who assembled and hand-finished the piece before firing

MAKER: Sèvres

DIMENSIONS: 18-1/4" W x 14" D x 13" H (on base)

ORIGIN: Sèvres, France

PERIOD: 1898

MATERIALS: Hard-paste biscuit porcelain with hand-painted gilding

CONDITION: Excellent antique condition, with exceptionally crisp definition throughout the animal anatomy, foliage and ground.

SKU: 2799