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Lot Essay
Begun in early 1805 and completed by September the following year, the 'Service Olympique' was comprised of 140 pieces including 68 plates, each produced at a cost of 360 francs. In addition, the service was also supplied with a cabaret and a table centrepiece. The figures were painted by Georget and Madame Jacquotot, the ornaments by Depérais and the gilding was by Constans and Boullemier.
Two deliveries to the Tuileries were made, one in August 1807 and another a month later. On 8th July Napoleon had signed the treaty of Tilsit with Czar Alexander I of Russia, and the service was to be presented to the Czar as a token of goodwill. But before doing this, Napoleon used the first delivery for his brother's wedding celebrations (Jérome married Princess Catherine of Württemberg on the 23rd August 1807).
The majority of the service is now in the Armouries Museum, Moscow, and several plates are also in the Sèvres Museum, Paris. For a full discussion of the service, see Le Service Olympique au Musée des Armures du Kremlin, and the article by A. Baca and I. Gorbatova for the Revue de la Société des Amis du Musée National de Céramique, no. 5, 1996, pp. 32 sequ.. Also see Marie-Noëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum, 1740 to the Present Day, p. 58, no. 57; 'Les Grands service de Sèvres', Musée National de Céramique Exhibition Catalogue (1975), nos. 29-32, and the two plates sold by Sotheby's London on 21st April 1998, lots 48 and 49.
Jean Georget was a painter at Sèvres from 1802 to 1823. Among his most important works was the porcelain table des Saisons at Fontainebleau executed for Napoleon in 1806-1807. See Tamara Préaud and Marcelle Brunet, Sèvres, Des origines à nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), pl. LVIII.
Two deliveries to the Tuileries were made, one in August 1807 and another a month later. On 8th July Napoleon had signed the treaty of Tilsit with Czar Alexander I of Russia, and the service was to be presented to the Czar as a token of goodwill. But before doing this, Napoleon used the first delivery for his brother's wedding celebrations (Jérome married Princess Catherine of Württemberg on the 23rd August 1807).
The majority of the service is now in the Armouries Museum, Moscow, and several plates are also in the Sèvres Museum, Paris. For a full discussion of the service, see Le Service Olympique au Musée des Armures du Kremlin, and the article by A. Baca and I. Gorbatova for the Revue de la Société des Amis du Musée National de Céramique, no. 5, 1996, pp. 32 sequ.. Also see Marie-Noëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum, 1740 to the Present Day, p. 58, no. 57; 'Les Grands service de Sèvres', Musée National de Céramique Exhibition Catalogue (1975), nos. 29-32, and the two plates sold by Sotheby's London on 21st April 1998, lots 48 and 49.
Jean Georget was a painter at Sèvres from 1802 to 1823. Among his most important works was the porcelain table des Saisons at Fontainebleau executed for Napoleon in 1806-1807. See Tamara Préaud and Marcelle Brunet, Sèvres, Des origines à nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), pl. LVIII.