CIRCA 1745

Although both these services, and a blue and white service which is known with this pattern, have been thought to have been made for Madame de Pompadour, since her maiden name was Poisson (fish) and the eagle would have represented her husband, King Louis XV, there is no evidence that this is so, and indeed much doubt that Madame de Pompadour would have drawn attention to her bourgeois family name in this way. However, the palettes used in the enamelled services were particularly popular in France during this time, suggesting that it was a French order, and owing to the extensive range of rare and unique forms in addition to those normally found in services, it was probably a private order of considerable importance. For a discussion on these services, see Howard and Ayers, China for the West, vol.II, London and New York, 1978, p.443, no. 449, where a plate from the Mottahedeh Collection is illustrated. Other pieces are illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, London, 1962, cat.190, p.194; by D. Howard, The Choice of the Private Trader, London, 1994, no.76, p.89 and no.271, p.229; by J.R.Texeira Leite, As Companhias das Indias e a Porcelana Chinesa de Encomenda, Sao Paolo, 1986, colour plate 55, p.137; and by J. G. Phillips, China Trade Porcelain, London, 1960, pl.20, p.89.