1812-1819, THE CUP INCISED 12-2 FOR FEBRUARY 1812 AND WITH FORMER'S SCRIPT L AND / MARK, THE SAUCER INCISED 19-10 FOR OCTOBER 1819 AND /U

According to the catalogue description pasted to the reverse of the saucer, the present cup and saucer was at one point part of a set ordered from the Sèvres factory by Louis XVIII and presented as a gift to Caroline Ferdinande Louise, duchesse de Berri and wife of his nephew, Charles Ferdinand. Decorated with portraits of the kings of France, eleven were purchased as lot 158 at the sale of her estate held at the château de Blois. Given the language and type-face of this catalogue entry, the auction may well have been held at the Anderson Art Galleries in New York, the precursor to Parke-Bernet Galleries and, by extension, to Sotheby's. Unfortunately, the factory's records do not corroborate this apochryphal information.

What can be confirmed is that a cup and saucer described as "une tasse et soucoupe Coupe 2ème grandeur zones d'or et camées brun" and almost certainly the present example, entered the saleroom on 12 March 1817 (Registre Vv 1, folio 83, no 38).