Bouquets of porcelain flowers, Sevres porcelain manufacture, mid 18th century.

Among the many beautiful and singular things that Madame de Pompadour liked to acquire and collect wore finely crafted porcelains,  which lead to her lifelong connection with the legendary Sevres porcelain manufacture which she helped establish and perfect by having the  Vincennes factory moved to Sevres, closer to Versailles and even closer to her Bellevue country house estate bought for her by the king. 

In its early days Vincennes factory gained popularity by making perfumed porcelain flowers, painted to look as close to the real thing as possible, they were relatively easy to make and became an instant best seller, and Madame de Pompadour, with her deep love for flowers adored these and as the legend goes filled her gardens with them, intermixing with real blossoms, and inviting the King to view her beautiful gardens fooling and impressing him with its artistic realism.