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Lot Essay
The present broth bowl was almost certainly made to celebrate the birth on 13 September 1751 of the dauphin Louis Joseph Xavier, duc de Bourgogne. Eldest son of Louis Dauphin (1729-1765) and Marie-Josephe de Saxe (1731-1767) and the first surviving grandson of Louis XV (1710-1774), the royal prince sadly died of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of nine. His three younger brothers, the ducs de Berry, de Provence and d’Artois, later became kings of France as Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X.
It is not possible to confirm exactly when the present écuelle with decoration related to the birth of the baby prince was made, as the earliest surviving production records for the royally supported Vincennes manufactory date to the year after his birth. The sale to Mme de Pompadour on 28 December 1752 of an écuelle, cover and stand of the 2nd size at a cost of 192 livres for the set, its decoration described as gilt white (blanc et or) gives us a clue. In Dame Rosalind Savill’s magnum opus Everyday Rococo – Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, London, 2021, vol. I, pp. 251-Fig. 9.33, 252, this purchase by Mme de Pompadour is described as perhaps intended as a gift to the marquise’s father. However, the high cost of the piece warranted by the richness of its decoration, the decorative elements of a dolphin and of a flag incised with the royal cypher of interlaced Ls, and the rare factory mark found on both bowl and stand that combines the same cypher with a fleur-de-lys and a ducal crown point to it being intended more likely as a gift to the king.
The king himself is known to have purchased a gilt-decorated écuelle, cover and stand a few days earlier. In entry 1306 of his Livre Journal, Lazare Duvaux describes the delivery to Louis XV (S.M. le Roy) on 24 December 1752 of a selection of gilt white Vincennes porcelain pieces including an écuelle, cover and stand, the porcelain presented in a fitted lacquer box lined in pink moiré silk. Rosalind Savill has identified this ensemble as a gift from the king to Queen Barbara of Spain [op cit, p. 255].
In the inventory of the entire stock of the Vincennes manufactory dated 1 October 1752, one can see the full range then in production. Included are many écuelles. The form, designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, was intended for use by a lady or a gentleman in the bedroom or boudoir rather than in the dining room. Broth bowls, covers and stands can be identified in different sizes and with variations in the shape and size of the stand and in the handles and finials.
Rosalind Savill has suggested that écuelles with fish finials may have been intended for serving fish bouillon on Fridays or during religious holidays. Regardless, decoration on écuelles with fish finials is always of the highest quality, often depicting fish or waterfowl. The same is true of the present gilt-trophy decorated example. She suggested the likelihood that the present example was made in celebration of the newborn royal prince to Mrs. Aitken when she visited her apartment in April 2002.
See also Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. II, pp. 642; and Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, vol. III, pp. 933-937, no. 262.
It is not possible to confirm exactly when the present écuelle with decoration related to the birth of the baby prince was made, as the earliest surviving production records for the royally supported Vincennes manufactory date to the year after his birth. The sale to Mme de Pompadour on 28 December 1752 of an écuelle, cover and stand of the 2nd size at a cost of 192 livres for the set, its decoration described as gilt white (blanc et or) gives us a clue. In Dame Rosalind Savill’s magnum opus Everyday Rococo – Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, London, 2021, vol. I, pp. 251-Fig. 9.33, 252, this purchase by Mme de Pompadour is described as perhaps intended as a gift to the marquise’s father. However, the high cost of the piece warranted by the richness of its decoration, the decorative elements of a dolphin and of a flag incised with the royal cypher of interlaced Ls, and the rare factory mark found on both bowl and stand that combines the same cypher with a fleur-de-lys and a ducal crown point to it being intended more likely as a gift to the king.
The king himself is known to have purchased a gilt-decorated écuelle, cover and stand a few days earlier. In entry 1306 of his Livre Journal, Lazare Duvaux describes the delivery to Louis XV (S.M. le Roy) on 24 December 1752 of a selection of gilt white Vincennes porcelain pieces including an écuelle, cover and stand, the porcelain presented in a fitted lacquer box lined in pink moiré silk. Rosalind Savill has identified this ensemble as a gift from the king to Queen Barbara of Spain [op cit, p. 255].
In the inventory of the entire stock of the Vincennes manufactory dated 1 October 1752, one can see the full range then in production. Included are many écuelles. The form, designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, was intended for use by a lady or a gentleman in the bedroom or boudoir rather than in the dining room. Broth bowls, covers and stands can be identified in different sizes and with variations in the shape and size of the stand and in the handles and finials.
Rosalind Savill has suggested that écuelles with fish finials may have been intended for serving fish bouillon on Fridays or during religious holidays. Regardless, decoration on écuelles with fish finials is always of the highest quality, often depicting fish or waterfowl. The same is true of the present gilt-trophy decorated example. She suggested the likelihood that the present example was made in celebration of the newborn royal prince to Mrs. Aitken when she visited her apartment in April 2002.
See also Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. II, pp. 642; and Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, vol. III, pp. 933-937, no. 262.