Known collectively as vases chinois, this three-piece garniture, with its brick-red ground and chinoiserie-themed reserves, would have appealed to George IV’s passion for jewel-like, colourful and exotic works of art. In 1818 they were sent to furnish Brighton Pavilion, which he was transforming into a ‘vision of Cathay’. The principal reserve on the front and back of each vase contains figures taken from engravings by Gabriel Huquier (1695-1772) after Aléxis Peyrotte (1699-1769). The diminutive roundels and oval reserves on the neck and foot contain chinoiserie landscape scenes, which were copied from a series of engravings designed by Jean-Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808). Paradoxically, they recall the early decoration on Vincennes porcelain, when the Meissen influence was predominant. In keeping with usual practice, the Sèvres artist has used the engravings with a greater or lesser degree of fidelity, occasionally picking out a detail, transposing another or reproducing with care the composition as a whole. Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009