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Lot Essay
The present compotes were acquired in 1912 from Gilman Collamore & Co. as part of a group comprising 36 plates, 4 high shell-form compotes with dolphin feet, 4 low shell-form compotes, 2 oval sauce-tureens and covers on fixed stands, and 2 3-tiered dessert stands on pierced bases, all for a total of $2,500, part of a dessert service of which the decoration is described in factory records as service de dessert fond agate bouquet de fleurs .
In a letter to the purchaser dated 5 September 1912, Gilman Collamore & Co. notes the provenance as follows: "This service is absolutely genuine and produced during the Epoch 1844-1848 Louis Philippe and comes from Col. de Lagrene, son of the Ambassador of France at Vienna, and the service has actually been in use at the French Embassy there."
The order for the full service, similar to that acquired three years earlier by Louis Philippe and given as a diplomatic gift as detailed in the catalogue entry, appears in the Sèvres records for 11 September 1846 (MNS Archives, Registre Vtt 6, folio 11). The botanical decoration took nearly a year to complete.
The service entered the Magazin de Ventes on 13 July 1847 (Registre Vv4, folio 101) and was delivered to Baroness Salomon de Rothschild on 15 July 1847. How the service was acquired by Ambassador de Lagrene from the Rothschild family in Vienna is unknown.
A portion of the original service comprising 11 plates, 2 high compotes, and 1 tiered dessert stand was sold anonymously, Bonham's, 25 November 2006, lot 178. Twelve plates from the 1910 purchase detailed above to which the present compotes also belong were sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 20 April 2007, lot 253.
In a letter to the purchaser dated 5 September 1912, Gilman Collamore & Co. notes the provenance as follows: "This service is absolutely genuine and produced during the Epoch 1844-1848 Louis Philippe and comes from Col. de Lagrene, son of the Ambassador of France at Vienna, and the service has actually been in use at the French Embassy there."
The order for the full service, similar to that acquired three years earlier by Louis Philippe and given as a diplomatic gift as detailed in the catalogue entry, appears in the Sèvres records for 11 September 1846 (MNS Archives, Registre Vtt 6, folio 11). The botanical decoration took nearly a year to complete.
The service entered the Magazin de Ventes on 13 July 1847 (Registre Vv4, folio 101) and was delivered to Baroness Salomon de Rothschild on 15 July 1847. How the service was acquired by Ambassador de Lagrene from the Rothschild family in Vienna is unknown.
A portion of the original service comprising 11 plates, 2 high compotes, and 1 tiered dessert stand was sold anonymously, Bonham's, 25 November 2006, lot 178. Twelve plates from the 1910 purchase detailed above to which the present compotes also belong were sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 20 April 2007, lot 253.