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Lot Essay
Commissioned in 1776 by Catherine the Great through her ambassador to the Court at Versailles, Prince Ivan Sergeyvich Bariatinsky, the Service aux Camées took three years to produce. The full service of 60 covers, comprising some 797 pieces in custom designed classical shapes, was the most elaborate and expensive ever produced by Sèvres. At a total cost of 331,317 livres, the service made for the Empress of all the Russias was a tour-de-force of design and manufacturing techniques. However, the manufacture nearly bankrupted the factory, with the final late payment in 1792 closely averting disaster.
The main service was accompanied by tea and coffee wares decorated en suite decorated with same program of classical cameos based on Greek and Roman history and mythology. The present gobelet 'Litron' is from one of 48 sets made in the second size at a cost of 195 livres per set. Its appearance at auction is rare, as nearly all of the original service is retained in St Petersburg at the Hermitage.
The Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris retains a bound volume of Dessins et Devis du Service de Porcelaine pour l'Imperatrice de Russie 1778 in which can be interpreted the development of the production. For a discussion of the service and the details behind its production, see D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. III, pp. 601-605; also Versailles et les Tables Royales en Europe XVIIème - XIXme Siecles, exhibition catalogue, Versailles, Musée National des Château de Versailles et de Trianon, 1993-1994, nos. 232-248, pp. 322-327; R. Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of the Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. II, pp. 762-782, nos. C474-479 and R. Savill, "Cameo Fever: Six Pieces from the Sèvres Porcelain Dinner Service Made for Catherine of Russia," Apollo, Vol. CXVI, no. 249. (Nov. 1982), pp. 304-311.
For a detailed analysis of the decorative program of cameos found on the dessert plates, see Isabella Savill, "Catherine the Great & Classical Imagery: An Analysis of her Sèvres Porcelain Service of 1779", a paper given at the French Porcelain Society Symposium in honor of Dame Rosalind Savill in April 2012 scheduled for publication in the Society's Journal of 2013.
Nicquet is recorded as a painter of flowers and patterns at the factory from 1762 to 1792. Jean-Pierre Boulanger is recorded as a gilder and painter of patterns at both Vincennes and Sèvres from 1754 to 1785. His mark appears on many pieces of the service among which are the present cup and a plate in the collection of the British Museum.
The main service was accompanied by tea and coffee wares decorated en suite decorated with same program of classical cameos based on Greek and Roman history and mythology. The present gobelet 'Litron' is from one of 48 sets made in the second size at a cost of 195 livres per set. Its appearance at auction is rare, as nearly all of the original service is retained in St Petersburg at the Hermitage.
The Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris retains a bound volume of Dessins et Devis du Service de Porcelaine pour l'Imperatrice de Russie 1778 in which can be interpreted the development of the production. For a discussion of the service and the details behind its production, see D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. III, pp. 601-605; also Versailles et les Tables Royales en Europe XVIIème - XIXme Siecles, exhibition catalogue, Versailles, Musée National des Château de Versailles et de Trianon, 1993-1994, nos. 232-248, pp. 322-327; R. Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of the Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. II, pp. 762-782, nos. C474-479 and R. Savill, "Cameo Fever: Six Pieces from the Sèvres Porcelain Dinner Service Made for Catherine of Russia," Apollo, Vol. CXVI, no. 249. (Nov. 1982), pp. 304-311.
For a detailed analysis of the decorative program of cameos found on the dessert plates, see Isabella Savill, "Catherine the Great & Classical Imagery: An Analysis of her Sèvres Porcelain Service of 1779", a paper given at the French Porcelain Society Symposium in honor of Dame Rosalind Savill in April 2012 scheduled for publication in the Society's Journal of 2013.
Nicquet is recorded as a painter of flowers and patterns at the factory from 1762 to 1792. Jean-Pierre Boulanger is recorded as a gilder and painter of patterns at both Vincennes and Sèvres from 1754 to 1785. His mark appears on many pieces of the service among which are the present cup and a plate in the collection of the British Museum.