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Lot Essay
This plate is probably from one of two services sold by the factory in 1760. One service was sold on 29th March to Antoine-René de Voyer d'Argenson, marquis de Paulmy, the other during the second quarter of 1760 to madame Lair. It is more probable that it is from the service sold to madame Lair as the price of the marquis's service was 30 livres a plate, almost certainly too little for a plate of this type. It is not known to whom madame Lair, an important marchande in Paris, sold the plates. Christie's sold a service of the same type from the collection of the Right. Hon. Lord Gwydir of Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, on 20th May 1829, lot 183, a 54-piece service; and a set of twelve plates from the Collections of San Donato, sold in Paris on 15th-17th March 1870, lot 183.
A plate from the same service was sold by Sotheby's New York on 4th April 1985, lot 105; another was sold in these Rooms on 18th May 1999, lot 117, and two plates from the Charles-Otto Zieseniss Collection were sold by Christie's Paris on 6th December 2001, lots 124-5.
Denis Levé was a painter of flowers, birds and patterns at Sèvres from 1754 to 1793 and from 1795 to 1805.
A plate from the same service was sold by Sotheby's New York on 4th April 1985, lot 105; another was sold in these Rooms on 18th May 1999, lot 117, and two plates from the Charles-Otto Zieseniss Collection were sold by Christie's Paris on 6th December 2001, lots 124-5.
Denis Levé was a painter of flowers, birds and patterns at Sèvres from 1754 to 1793 and from 1795 to 1805.