QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1745

Traditional attribution for this service, with its many elaborately shaped pieces, has been Madame de Pompadour (1721-64), based on the fish vignettes (relating to her maiden name of Poisson) and the eagle vignettes (representing her husband, King Louis XV). But, though certainly a French market pattern, it seems unlikely Mme. de Pompadour would have highlighted her humble origins in this way.