Lot n° 132
Estimation :
15000 - 20000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 19 320EUR
SEAU À DEMI-BOUTEILLE DU SERVICE "À PERLES ET BARBEAUX" POUR - Lot 132
SEAU À DEMI-BOUTEILLE DU SERVICE "À PERLES ET BARBEAUX" POUR LA TABLE DE LA REINE MARIE-ANTOINETTE A TRIANON.
Manufacture Royale, Sèvres, 1781-1782.
In soft porcelain, with polychrome decoration of barbel motifs, underlined by two rows of pearls painted on a green background band, framed by gold fillets. The decoration on this bucket features a variation of floral motifs.
Restorations, slight wear to the gilding in places, but overall good condition.
Mark: LL interlaced in blue (faded).
Painter's mark: B9 (probably Louis-Thomas
Bauquer), active from 1774 to 1795.
H. 16.6 cm - Diam. 18.5 cm.
History: Between 1781 and 1784, Queen Marie-Antoinette commissioned four services for her personal use from the Royal Sèvres Manufactory. The service "à Perles et Barbeaux" ("barbeau" is the ancient name for the cornflower), the queen's favorite flower, was ordered on April 21, 1781 and delivered on January 2, 1782, comprising 295 pieces for twenty-four guests, as was customary in 18th-century French service.
Decoration of the pieces began in November 1781 and was completed by the end of the year. Such diligence required the mobilization of the Manufacture's best craftsmen, twenty-eight painters and several gilders, which explains certain variations and artistic interpretations in the motifs and barbeaux flowers, as is the case on the two pieces we present.
Our two half-bottle coolers come from the order delivered to the Queen on January 2, 1782. They were sold for 132 livres each (see order book page opposite, ref.: Vy8, folio, page 144). According to this order, there were four of them.
This service is a masterpiece of the Manufacture de Sèvres, referred to as the "service de la reine", and was never made again for other clients of the Manufacture. According to Bertrand Rondot, "the sovereign made her choice from two sample plates submitted to her by the painter Michel-Gabriel Commelin (1746-1802)".
After the French Revolution, much of this service was scattered around the world, notably in private collections such as those of Lord Revelstoke, Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild, Duc de Cossé-Brissac, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and the family of the current Duc d'Uzès. Today, some pieces are in museums in France (Versailles, Louvre) and Great Britain (Victoria and Albert Museum). But since the dation of a set of 75 pieces made by the descendants of the former President of the French Republic, in addition to the 15 pieces already in the Château de Versailles collections. As a result, the Petit Trianon now owns 90 pieces from this service.
Provenance :
Collection of Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). Collection of the Maison de Crussol, preserved since by direct descent to the current Duc d'Uzès.
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