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INVENTORY OF THE JEAN PILLEMENT ETCHINGS, ca. 1755-ca.
1775
P830005
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Title: Jean Pillement etchings
Dates: ca.
1755-1775
Collection number: P830005
Creator:
Pillement, Jean
Collector:
Perrins, Charles William Dyson, 1864-
Extent:
329 prints
(3
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive
Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: 329 prints designed by Jean Pillement and etched by various printmakers. The etchings of chinoiserie,
flowers, and rustic scenes were sources for designs on Worcester
porcelain. The collection represents perhaps one-quarter of Pillement's printed
designs.
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Language: Collection material in French and English.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Jean Pillement etchings, ca. 1755-1775, Getty Research Institute,
Research Library, Accession no. P830005.
Acquired in 1983 through a dealer who acquired the collection from
Charles William Dyson Perrins.
Jean Pillement, also known as Jean II Pillement and Jean-Baptiste
Pillement, was the grandson of Jean Ier Pillement and son of Paul Pillement
(b.1694), both painters. Pillement, the oldest of five children, was born in
Lyon in 1728, studied in Paris with Daniel Sarrabat (1666-1748), a former
student of Jean I Pillement. For a short time, Pillement worked at the Gobelins
factory designing textile ornaments before beginning a lifetime of extensive
travel around Europe. He visited Poland, where he became Painter to the King of
Poland, Stanislas Auguste, and was much appreciated in London and Lisbon, where
he visited several times. He spent time in France, Spain, Italy, Austria,
England, and Portugal before retiring to Lyon, where he died, very poor, in
1808.
Pillement painted and drew genre scenes, chinoiserie, flowers,
landscapes, and marines subjects in many media, always in a rococo style. He is
known for his inventiveness and endless novelty in these genres, for the
usefulness of his drawings for manufacturers, and especially for his
chinoiserie scenes, which he abandoned after 1775. Various engravers in Paris
and London - including Pillement's second wife, Anne Allen - etched suites and
plates after his designs. Leviez published one of two large collections of
prints after Pillement's designs in 1767 (130 prints), and Basan and Poignant
published the other in 1772 (120 prints).
Scope and Content of Collection
The Jean Pillement Collection was originally owned by Charles William
Dyson Perrins (1864-1958), an English book collector. Perrins had a strong
interest in the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company, to whom he donated his fine
collection of Worcester porcelain; this collection of etchings of chinoiserie,
flowers, and rustic scenes represents sources for designs on Worcester
porcelain. The collection contains perhaps one-quarter of Pillement's printed
designs and includes the work of the following etchers: François-Antoine
Aveline (1718-1780 or 1718-1762), Peter-Paul Benazech (ca.1730-after 1783),
Pierre-Charles Canot (1710-1777), Edouard Gautier Dagoty, Louis Dagoty, Jeanne
Deny (b.1749), William Elliot or Elliott (1727-1766), Hess, James Mason
(1710-ca.1780), Christopher Norton, Simon François Ravenet the elder
(1706-1774), James Roberts the elder (1725 or 1726-1799), William Sherlock
(ca.1759-1806), and Thomas Vivares (b.1735). C. Leviez and
Pierre-François Basan (1723-97) are frequently listed as publishers; as
part of their large collections, they seem to have reissued prints published
earlier, sometimes by others. Victor Marie Picot (1744-1802) and Jean Marie
Delattre (1745-1840) also issued two prints.
The subjects of the sixteen suites of small etchings include
chinoiserie fountains, tents, trophies, figures in landscapes and rococo
flowers and ribbons. These motifs, probably derived from works by Pillement in
other media, could easily be used as decorative sources for woven or printed
textiles; painted, modeled, or lacquered paneling; engraving on silver; or
painted porcelain. Two suites are etched in red and black in the crayon manner,
imitating chalk drawings.
The subjects of the sixteen suites of medium-sized etchings include
fantastic and naturalistic flowers; chinoiserie genre scenes (some of children
playing games) and large single figures; and rustic European genre scenes,
always outdoors and often along the road or near tumble-down houses or
bridges.
The large etchings include one suite of six Chinese genre scenes and
twenty rococo genre scenes, each with its own title. The genre scenes, often in
pairs, depict the countryside or small villages, some with additional
allegorical meaning related to the seasons or times of day. Some represent
indigenous peasants picturesquely going about their business, while some
portray gentlefolk who have appropriated rural costumes and landscapes for
their own pleasures.
Title of suite or print. Etcher. Place, date: Publisher.
Number of plates (if suite). Measurements.
Bibliographic reference(s).
Notes.
Number of plates (if suite). Measurements.
Bibliographic reference(s).
Notes.
Title of first print. Etcher. Place, date: Publisher.
Title of second print. Etcher. Place, date: Publisher.
Measurements.
Bibliographic reference(s).
Notes.
Title of second print. Etcher. Place, date: Publisher.
Measurements.
Bibliographic reference(s).
Notes.
Titles are listed exactly as they are rendered on
the prints. Supplied titles are in brackets.
Pillement is the designer, and all entries are
etchings.
Publication information is taken directly from the prints; complete
names are used when known. As part of their large collections of plates after
Pillement's designs, Leviez and Basan seem to have reissued prints published
earlier, sometimes by others. Thus, their names and place (Paris) appear in
addition to the original issuing information. s.l. = sine loco (without place).
s.d. = sine datum (without date). s.n. = sine nomine (without name).
All measurements are in centimeters. For suites of prints, only one,
usually the title page or the first print, has been measured. Pl. = platemark;
Sh. = sheet.
Guilmard = Désiré Guilmard.
Les maîtres ornemanistes, dessinateurs, peintres,
architectes, sculpteurs et graveurs; écoles française, italienne,
allemande, et des Pays-Bas (flamande & hollandaise)
. Paris,
1880-81: E. Plon.
Guilmard p.190: Dagoty 1 refers to the first suite listed under Dagoty as engraver on page 190.
Guilmard p.190: Dagoty 1 refers to the first suite listed under Dagoty as engraver on page 190.
Berlin Kat. = Staatliche Kunstbibliothek (Berlin, Germany).
Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek,
Berlin
. Berlin; Leipzig: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1939.
Berlin Kat. 449 Bd. 2: Canot 1 refers to the first suite listed under Canot as engraver in the second volume of the Pillement listing at number 449.
Berlin Kat. 449 Bd. 2: Canot 1 refers to the first suite listed under Canot as engraver in the second volume of the Pillement listing at number 449.
Art—Chinese
influences
Decoration and
ornament—France
Decoration and
ornament—Rococo
Genre (Art)
Etchings—France—18th century
Prints—France—18th century
Pillemont, Jean,
1728-1808, artist
Perrins, Charles William
Dyson, 1864-, former owner
Emmanuel Bénézit.
Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres,
sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays, par
un groupe d'écrivains spécialistes français et
étrangers.
Nouv. éd. [Paris]: Gründ,
1948-55.
Georges Pillement.
Jean Pillement. Paris: J. Haumont, 1945.
Norman David Ziff.
Jean-Baptiste Pillement and the evolution of Chinoiserie as an
ornament motif.
Ph.D. dissertation, 1968.