Description
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.
Background
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.