The Fragonard Love Story-Courting Couple Motif
Part of the fun of collecting china, teacups included, is delving into the past and learning a bit of history. This was the case, when helping my friend identify the maker of a plate that featured a couple dressed in fine 18th Century clothing. The couple are in a woodland pastoral setting, the lady is sitting on a stone bench. Behind her is a stone arched wall that is slightly overgrown by woodland shrubs. She offers the gentleman some flowers out of a flower basket, which presumably she has picked on her walk. The gentleman is standing in front of the lady serenading her with a guitar. Across the bottom on the left side of the motif is signed “Fragonard.”
Looking on the internet, this signed name led to a deluge of images, which are commonly called Fragonard Courting Couple or Fragonard Love Story, on plates, teacups, brooches, and vases. Apparently, these courting couples were inspired from the work of artist Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). Fragonard was a French painter of the Rococo style who was popular in the latter half of the 18th Century, around the time of Marie Antoinette, Louis XV and Louis XVI. Rococo painters featured pastoral landscapes and incorporated in their paintings myths of love, cherubs, cupids, venus and mythical creatures. Portraiture was very popular among the Rococo painters and featured aristocratic courting couples on leisurely outings. Although the couples that I’ve found on china plates, teacups, and vases appear to be innocent courting lovers, some works of the Rococo painters’ depict some naughtiness in their pastoral scenes.
Jean-Fragone Fragonard, The Fountain of Love
Jean-Honore Fragonard The Swing
It seems that the French Revolution put an end to many of the careers of Rococo painters as their aristocratic patrons no longer could support them. This was not, however, the end of the Fragonard Courting Couple which has continued as a motif to this day. The first great revival of the couple was in the late Victorian times when they appeared on hand painted brooches and in miniature paintings. Later with the Victorian revival in the 1980s the couple returned once again on brooches, china, teacups and vases.
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There has been a lot of interest on the Fragonard Love Story Motif on the Englisteacupshop.com website and some have contacted me to keep a lookout for specific teacups or sets. Starting in January 2019, I will actively looking for Fragonard Love Story/Courting Couple tea cups and tea sets in estates sales and thrift stores. Please join this email newsletter if you would like to be notified when new Fragonard Love Story/Courting Items become available on the website or when a new blog post is created about the Fragonard Love Story/Courting Couple motif. I do not sell your information and promise not to pepper your inbox with emails. After you sign up you will receive a discount code for 10% off an order in our shop.
