Love Stung by a Bee

Porcelain production was still guarded as a trade secret in this era, yet enterprising manufacturers stole production methods and winning designs. “Constant, ” a mysterious porcelain maker in Paris, frequently copied models produced by the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, which employed prominent sculptors like Louis-Simon Boizot to design bisque sculptures. Constant’s copy of Boizot’s Love Stung by a Bee is simplified (missing the bees swarming the hive) and smaller. Thomas Jefferson also owned a variant of this popular design, purchased during his Paris residency, 1784–89 (Monticello, Virginia).