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Lot Essay
The Service Arabesque was the last service commissioned by Louis XVI. It was conceived as an unique service with new and novel forms. The decoration was inspired by the 'Roman' revival style of the Italian Renaissance, specifically the designs by Raphael for the Loggie of the papal apartments. The architect and engineer Louis Le Masson was engaged to prepare designs for the service, having received Royal patronage to travel to Italy and study antique design in 1779-81. With the asssitance of Étienne-Henry Le Guay and his son Étienne-Charles drawings were prepared for the factory's decorators to work from.1
Production proceeded slowly and appears to have ceased by 1787. The completed pieces were never delivered to their intended recipient. The gift of the service to Karl August, Freiherr von Hardenberg, Minister of State to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia was made from the Comité de Salut Public via the Commission des Relations Extérieures. The Minister helped negotiate and was a signatory to the Treaty of Basle on the 5th April 1795. The size and value of the gift (4,700 livres)2 clearly shows the high regard in which m. de Hardenberg was held.
For an exhaustive discussion of this service see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century (Little Berkhamsted, 2005), Vol. V, pp. 1085-1095. See also in Vol. VII, p. 1647 for the Kiln List for 1.12.1785 which records 2 assiettes unies from the service gilded by Prévost and painted by Fontaine, perhaps one of which is the present example. Although the current plate does not bear a painter's mark, it is only these two plates that are recorded as being gilded by Prévost in 1785. The long-serving artist Jacques Fontaine (active 1752-1807), is recorded as a painter of flowers, figures, patterns and cameos as well as being a gilder. The superb rendering of the central 'cameo' seems likely to be by his hand.
For other examples of related form and decoration see the the un-gilded example in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated by both Marcelle Brunet & Tamara Préaud, Sèvres Des origines á nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), p. 211, no. 260 and Svend Eriksen & Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain, Vincennes and Sèvres 1740-1800 (London, 1987), col. pl. M. Three examples appear in recent auction records, the un-gilded example with a circular well from the Hector Binney Collection sold by Sotheby's London on 5th December 1989, lot 136; a gilded example offered by Sotheby's London on 14th November 1995, lot 86 and again on 4th June 1996, lot 53; and another almost identical example sold by Sotheby's London on 19th November 1996, lot 75 and subsequently by Christie's New York on 17-18th November 1999, lot 228.
1. David Peters, loc. cit., p. 1088.
2. David Peters, loc. cit., p. 1085.
Production proceeded slowly and appears to have ceased by 1787. The completed pieces were never delivered to their intended recipient. The gift of the service to Karl August, Freiherr von Hardenberg, Minister of State to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia was made from the Comité de Salut Public via the Commission des Relations Extérieures. The Minister helped negotiate and was a signatory to the Treaty of Basle on the 5th April 1795. The size and value of the gift (4,700 livres)2 clearly shows the high regard in which m. de Hardenberg was held.
For an exhaustive discussion of this service see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century (Little Berkhamsted, 2005), Vol. V, pp. 1085-1095. See also in Vol. VII, p. 1647 for the Kiln List for 1.12.1785 which records 2 assiettes unies from the service gilded by Prévost and painted by Fontaine, perhaps one of which is the present example. Although the current plate does not bear a painter's mark, it is only these two plates that are recorded as being gilded by Prévost in 1785. The long-serving artist Jacques Fontaine (active 1752-1807), is recorded as a painter of flowers, figures, patterns and cameos as well as being a gilder. The superb rendering of the central 'cameo' seems likely to be by his hand.
For other examples of related form and decoration see the the un-gilded example in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated by both Marcelle Brunet & Tamara Préaud, Sèvres Des origines á nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), p. 211, no. 260 and Svend Eriksen & Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain, Vincennes and Sèvres 1740-1800 (London, 1987), col. pl. M. Three examples appear in recent auction records, the un-gilded example with a circular well from the Hector Binney Collection sold by Sotheby's London on 5th December 1989, lot 136; a gilded example offered by Sotheby's London on 14th November 1995, lot 86 and again on 4th June 1996, lot 53; and another almost identical example sold by Sotheby's London on 19th November 1996, lot 75 and subsequently by Christie's New York on 17-18th November 1999, lot 228.
1. David Peters, loc. cit., p. 1088.
2. David Peters, loc. cit., p. 1085.