1839, BLUE STENCILLED CROWNED LP MONOGRAM AND SEVRES 1839 MARK, INDISTINCT GILDER'S MARK, PERHAPS FOR MELANIE BONNER, INCISED MARKS

This plate was part of a service ordered by King Louis Philippe for presentation to Narcisse-Achille, Comte de Salvandy (1795-1856), a French soldier, politician and writer. From 1837-39 he acted as Ministre de l'Instruction Publique, implementing many education reforms and in 1841 he was appointed ambassador to Madrid, and then to Turin in 1843. He was reappointed as a government minister from 1845-48 where he continued his work on the French education system.

The service originally comprised of one hundred plates together with a number of tazze, sauce-tureens and baskets. A large part of the service, including sixty plates, was sold from the Property of a Lady in these Rooms on 30 June 1986, lot 222, where the painters working on the service are noted to include Mélanie Bonner, who signed two examples in that lot. Other artists recorded as working on this service include Jacques Sinsson, Joséphine des Isnards and Mme. Charles (née Huard). The service was delivered on 28 October 1842 and cost 6,316 livres. Another example of a plate from this service is in the Sèvres Cité de la Céramique, museum no. MNC25292. A letter considered to be from Brongniart to Salvandry, dated 7 October 1842, was sold with the part-service in the aformentioned sale, please see www.christies.com for further details.