Painted with a central loose bouquet of flowers and fruit within a shaped bleu lapis border with a gilt caillouté ground, reserved with three panels of garlands of flowers.
David Peters notes that two services were produced at this time with this pattern. One was presented as a gift from Louis XV to Christian VII, King of Denmark, on the occasion of his visit to Paris from 21 October 1768 until 9 December 1768.[i] This remains largely intact at Rosenborg Castle and Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
The other service was bought by Louis XV through the marchand mercier Madame Lair. Ownership of a lapis service by Louis XVI (inherited from Louis XV) is evidenced by the listing of a “Service Bleu Lapis et Or” described as “ancient fond[ation]” (older holding), in two parts in a château de Versailles inventory of 1782 in the Archives National,[ii] one part being “Porcelaine de Office”. This included 37 assiettes and various forms.
David Peters traces the history of this service, and the supplements ordered by Louis XVI (described as beau bleu in 1784 and 1791) in the French royal collections in Service List 70-3[iii] and in ‘Les services de porcelaines de Louis XV et Louis XVI’, Versailles et les Tables Royales en Europe, XVIIème – XIXème siècles.[iv]
It is not possible to distinguish between components of these two lapis caillouté services, but according to David Peters’ records, only three plates are missing from the service in Denmark, and it has to be considered that they may have been broken rather than parted out. That makes the service bought by Louis XV a much more likely source for our plate.
We are grateful to David Peters for help with this entry.
Condition:
Good condition
Provenance:
Probably from the service bought by Louis XV through Madame Lair
Acquired from Michele Beiny Inc., New York, 10 December 2004
Property from the Collection of A. Jerrold Perenchio, Chartwell, Christies’s, New York, 16 September 2020, lot 10
Private Collection
References:
Peters 2005
D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, vol. II, Little Berkhamsted, 2005
Peters 1993
David Peters, ‘Les services de porcelaines de Louis XV et Louis XVI’, Versailles et les Tables Royales en Europe, XVIIème – XIXème siècles, exhibition catalogue, Châteaux de Versailles. 1993, p.115.
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[i] A second tranche of this gift was delivered on 1 July 1769 see Peters 2005 no. 68-4 & 69-4.
[ii] Archives Nationale (AN 01 3510).
[iii] Peters 2005, 70-3, p. 440 from column 2, para 4.
[iv] Peters 1993 p. 115.
Price: £7,500
