Details
A LARGE FRENCH ROYAL WINE COOLER
Circa 1725-30
Cylindrical with a pair of blue and gilt shell handles beneath a molded band rim, the arms shown in the front encircled by the bands of the orders of the Holy Ghost and of St. Michael, on the sides three large still-lifes of fruit and flowers in a Kakiemon palette below Japanese style mon
10¾ in. (27.3cm.) wide over handles

Lot Essay

The refined decoration on this large service relates closely to other Yongzheng period patterns, and it may have been ordered after the 1729 royal inventory, in which it does not appear. The addorsed L's supporting a flower sprig in the pattern's gilt border may represent the King's initial. The service descended in the Orléans family until Louis-Philippe, King of France 1830-48, gave it to a French nobleman, in whose family much remains today. See A. Lebel, Christie's International Magazine, January 2003, and also an unpublished manuscript, for which he would be grateful for images or information on further French armorial pieces.
An impressive array of shapes and forms comprise the French royal service. Two candlesticks were sold Christie's New York, the collection of Benjamin F Edwards III, 22 January 2002, lot 136. A tripartite spice box and cover was sold Christie's New York, 14 October 1999, lot 114 and a small tureen and cover were sold Sotheby's Monaco, 23 June 1986, lot 1181

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