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In the eighteenth century artist strove to invent new techniques, new ways to obtain results with less effort and, mainly, at less cost. Works of art were now marketable items and this raised the issue of how to market them. Porcelain thus came to used as a medium for figurines. Although they were fragile, they had the advantage of possessing colours of permanent freshness. The Meissen manufactory in Germany is the oldest and most renowned of the eighteenth-century porcelain factories, but it was by no means the only one. In France, on the other hand, the search foe an 'ersatz' marble resulted in the invention of a technique which was to become known as 'biscuit'. Biscuit figurines were produced in large quantities, especially at the Sèvres manufactory. Many leading sculptors designed models for biscuit figurines or consented to have their statues reproduced in small biscuit copies.
Thus, after receiving considerable acclaim at the Salon of 1750 for his marble Child with Birdcage, Pigalle agreed to let the Sèvres manufactory publish a reduced and altered version in biscuit (the biscuit version shows two children while the original only has one child). The biscuit was left uncoloured, for French collectors preferred a plain white finish, either matte or polished to look like marble.
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