The most important of the French factories was established at Vincennes about 1738 and removed to a new building at Sèvres in 1756. Louis XV was a large shareholder in the original company and the factory eventually passed to the crown in 1759. It became state property in 1793, and has so remained.

The factory did not succeed in its attempts to make a practicable soft-paste porcelain until 1745. Much of the work at Vincennes consisted of naturalistic flowers with bronze stalks and leaves, sometimes in vases elaborately mounted in gilt bronze by the court goldsmith, Claude Thomas Duplessis, and others. Meissen was also copied for a short period, but the factory soon evolved its own style, which remained partly dependent on the use of high quality gilt-bronze mounts. A few glazed and painted figures were made, but these gave place in 1751 to figures of biscuit porcelain. In 1757 the sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet was appointed to take charge of modelling, a position he retained until 1766. Designs by the painter François Boucher were frequently used by Falconet and others; Boucher's influence is particularly strong during the lifetime of Louis XV's mistress, Mme de Pompadour, who took much interest in the factory. Later, some excellent work in this medium was done by the sculptors Augustin Pajou and Louis-Simon Boizot.

Both at Vincennes and Sèvres much use was made of coloured grounds in conjunction with white panels, which were used for decorative painting of the highest quality. These panels were surrounded by rich and elaborate raised gilding, which was engraved and chased (tooled). The most usual ground colours were a dark underglaze blue (gros bleu) and a brighter, overglaze (bleu de Roi); also used were turquoise blue, yellow, green, and rose Pompadour (often miscalled rose du Barry in England).

The porcelain of Sèvres was made to harmonize with the exotic and luxurious style of interior decoration that characterized French court circles. The soft-paste body was of superb quality; and, because the extremely fusible glaze partly remelted in the enamelling kiln, the colours sank into the glaze in a way hardly seen elsewhere.

The factory at Sèvres prosecuted the search for the ingredients of hard porcelain with vigour. They were eventually found, after a prolonged search, at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges, in 1769. The new body was first manufactured soon after 1770, although for a number of years it was only used for biscuit figures. Later, it was employed for dishes and vases decorated in a severe but luxurious classical style. In 1800 the manufacture of soft porcelain was discontinued altogether.