TWO SÈVRES 'FOND TAILLANDIER VERT' ORNITHOLOGICAL PLATES

Details
TWO SÈVRES 'FOND TAILLANDIER VERT' ORNITHOLOGICAL PLATES
BLUE INTERLACED L'S TO BOTH, ONE WITH DATE LETTER JJ FOR 1786, PAINTER'S Y FOR BOUILLAT AND GILDER'S # FOR CHAUVAUX; THE OTHER WITH DATE LETTER PP AND Y FOR 1792, PAINTER'S FLEUR-DE-LYS FOR G. TAILLANDIER, GILDER'S GI POSSIBLY FOR GIRARD

Each painted in colours after engravings by Buffon, one with a blue, pink, yellow and green parrot perched on a branch, named on the back 'Perruche, de Pondicherry'; the other with a yellow, blue and green bird standing on a rock in a landscape, named on the back 'Mesange bleue', within a wide pale-green border with gilt-centered, blue oeil-de-perdrix and gilt shaped rims, slight wear to rims
9½in. (24cm.) diam. (2)
Provenance
With Nicolier, Paris, the first plate

Lot Essay

Edmé-François Bouillat (père) was active at Sèvres as a painter from around 1758 - 1810(?); Chauvaux père was active at Vincennes and Sèvres as a gilder 1752-1788; Geneviéve Taillandier was active 1774-1798; and Ètienne-Gabriel Girard was active at Sèvres as a gilder 1762-1800.

The present examples are based on illustrations from the French naturalist's, George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788), ten volumes on birds (published 1770-1786) which formed part of a larger work 'Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des animaux'. This opus of forty-four volumes was intended to be a comprehensive account of the natural world. The coloured illustrations by François-Nicolas Martinet for this work served as inspiration for the birds found on these two Sèvres examples.

It is possible that one of these plates was part of the famous 175 piece 'Eden Service' (dated 1784-1788), originally commissioned by Louis XVI to be given to the English diplomat William Eden. In 1814, pieces from the Eden Service were sold at Christie's London and purchased on behalf of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Subsequently, a number of pieces became the possession of Baron Lionel de Rothschild, later to be sold on behalf of Edmund D. Rothschild at Christie's London, June 30, 1975, lot 85 (115 pieces). See Gervase Jackson-Stops, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,The Treasure Houses of Britain, 399 for an 'Eden Service' tureen, cover and stand in the collection of Major Edmund L. de Rothschild, Exbury House (one of 60 assorted pieces kept by the family). The service appears again at Christie's New York sale of property from the Estate of Elinor Dorrance Ingersoll, November 11, 1977, lots 24 & 25 (91 pieces total). See Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke, Sotheby's New York, September 26, 1989, lot 329 for an extensive description of this commission and a later idenitcally decorated charger.

This type of decoration remained popular until the late 18th century and other identical ornithological services were made. Examples can be found in the Musée Nissim de Camondo. See Marcelle Brunet and Tamara Préaud, Sèvres Des origines à nos jours, Paris 1979, pp. 216-219.