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A VINCENNES OR EARLY SEVRES GREEN-GROUND COVERED EWER AND BASIN (POT A L'EAU TOURNE ET JATTE OVALE DE POT A L'EAU, 2EME GRANDEUR)

1756-7, ELABORATE BLUE INTERLACED L'S MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTERS D, IN UPPERCASE TO THE BASIN AND IN LOWER CASE TO THE EWER, PAINTER'S MARK B, PERHAPS FOR BARBOT, INCISED BP INSIDE FOOTRIM OF BASIN, CO(?) AND 4 TO EWER

Details

A VINCENNES OR EARLY SEVRES GREEN-GROUND COVERED EWER AND BASIN (POT A L'EAU TOURNE ET JATTE OVALE DE POT A L'EAU, 2^E^M^E GRANDEUR)
1756-7, ELABORATE BLUE INTERLACED L'S MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTERS D, IN UPPERCASE TO THE BASIN AND IN LOWER CASE TO THE EWER, PAINTER'S MARK B, PERHAPS FOR BARBOT, INCISED BP INSIDE FOOTRIM OF BASIN, Co(?) AND 4 TO EWER
The baluster ewer painted with a generous spray of grapes, fruit and flowers within a mirror-shaped cartouche gilt with exotic birds perched among scrolls garlanded with flowers and issuing diaper pattern and folaite panels, the spout gilt with an anthemion leaf among strapwork on a seeded sections edged with scrolls, the white and gilt handle with leaf-moulded upper terminal the cover with gilt flowers, scrolls, folaige and a diaper-pattern section, with hinged silver-gilt mounted with shell thumbpiece and acanthus leaf sections covering the top of the handle, the basin painted with fruit and flower-sprays within mirror-shaped cartouches gilt with border among foliage, scrolls and trailing branches issuing patterned panels edged with scrolls, the mottled ground gilt with birds in flight and a posy of flowersm below a gilt dentil rim, the plain exterior painted with swags of flowers (two small footrim chips to basin)
The ewer -- 6½ in. (16.6 cm.) high, the basin -- 10 1/8 in. (28.8 cm.) wide

Provenance

Purchased by Lazare Duvaux between 1 July 1757 and 1 January 1758, then on the 13 September 1757 to the Duc d'Orléans
Miss Davis Collection; Sotheby's, London, 18 November 1969, lot 36
With Nicollier, Paris
With Vandermeersch, Paris.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Brought to you by

Dominic Simpson

dsimpson@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3026

Lot Essay

This ewer and basin was recorded in the sales ledgers of the Sèvres archives (Vy 2 fol. 49 v°) as being sold to Lazare Duvaux between 1 July 1757 and 1 January 1758 at the cost of 480 livres, and is listed as:

1 pot a l'eau verd fleurs/1 jatte (idem)

The ewer and basin subsequently appeared in the Livre Journal de Lazare Duvaux (entry no. 2875) on 13 September 1757 as 'Un pot à l'eau & jatte auffi en vert, à fleurs, la garniture d'argent doré, 520 l.' and it was sold to S. A. S. Mgr. le Duc d'Orléans'.

It is interesting to note the difference in price of 40 livres due to the addition of a mount. Duvaux resold items at his purchase price, but in reality he was given discounted prices from Sèvres because of the volume of his purchases, and these prices were not officially recorded. The addition of a mount gave Duvaux an opportunity to further enhance his earnings on this particular piece.

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