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Lot Essay
It is highly likely that these plates form part of the bleu céleste service received by Louis-Charles-Auguste Le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil on 16 April 1768. The baron de Breteuil held an important position in Louis XV's Secret du Roi, the King's secret reporting network of diplomats. He remained an influential figure in France into the second half of the 18th century and became ministre et sécretaire d'Etat de la Maison du Roi in 1783 and was the Ambassador to Sweden, The Netherlands, Austria and the Two Sicilies. The baron purchased additional pieces for the service in 1771, although none of these additional pieces recorded in the Sèvres archives are assiettes à palmes.
It is possible that these plates then entered the collection of Count A.D. Sheremetev in the 19th century where they formed part of a large selection of bleu céleste service-wares. They were sold in or around 1906 in London by the dealer Asher Wertheimer, see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, Vol. II, pp. 385-386. Several pieces likely to be from the 1906 sale have appeared at auction recently, including six plates from The Property of Sir John Plumb F.B.A., sold in these Rooms on 2 November 1998, lots 257, 258 & 259.
The ornithological decoration and gilding pattern is almost identical to that on the service purchased in 1767 by either Count Kyrill Grigorevich Razoumovski or his brother Count Alexis, both Marshalls of Russia from the banquiers Bouffet et Dangiard. Count Alexis married Elisabeth, Empress of Russia and both brothers enjoyed extensive power and status. All but five pieces of this Russian service, which is dated 1766-67, are on display at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
The bird designs on this service and several of a similar period are based on the engravings published by George Edwards, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, which was also published in France as Histoire Naturelle de Divers Oiseaux in 1745 and 1748.
It is possible that these plates then entered the collection of Count A.D. Sheremetev in the 19th century where they formed part of a large selection of bleu céleste service-wares. They were sold in or around 1906 in London by the dealer Asher Wertheimer, see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, Vol. II, pp. 385-386. Several pieces likely to be from the 1906 sale have appeared at auction recently, including six plates from The Property of Sir John Plumb F.B.A., sold in these Rooms on 2 November 1998, lots 257, 258 & 259.
The ornithological decoration and gilding pattern is almost identical to that on the service purchased in 1767 by either Count Kyrill Grigorevich Razoumovski or his brother Count Alexis, both Marshalls of Russia from the banquiers Bouffet et Dangiard. Count Alexis married Elisabeth, Empress of Russia and both brothers enjoyed extensive power and status. All but five pieces of this Russian service, which is dated 1766-67, are on display at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
The bird designs on this service and several of a similar period are based on the engravings published by George Edwards, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, which was also published in France as Histoire Naturelle de Divers Oiseaux in 1745 and 1748.