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Lot Essay
The present cup, cover and socketed saucer is related to a similarly decorated écuelle, cover and stand previously in a Distinguished New York Collection and sold in the first Arts of France auction, Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 166, also as later-decorated. Both are of soft-paste porcelain, painted in a shade of blue used at Sèvres but only on hard paste porcelain in the 19th century and never in combination with fleurs incrustés. This very particular technique of flower painting, created by scraping away the ground color before painting the flowers and associated with the painter Micaud, was understandably expensive to produce. It was in use 1766-71, with most pieces extant dated 1768-69.
The present lot shows no signs of having been re-fired, indicating that it was likely sold off as white and not stripped in an acid bath of its original decoration and re-painted. The flowers are incrustés, proof of the care and expense that went into its creation in the Sèvres style, the stiffness of the cartouche and ribbon-tied garlands pointing, perhaps, to an English workshop of circa 1830-1840.
The present lot shows no signs of having been re-fired, indicating that it was likely sold off as white and not stripped in an acid bath of its original decoration and re-painted. The flowers are incrustés, proof of the care and expense that went into its creation in the Sèvres style, the stiffness of the cartouche and ribbon-tied garlands pointing, perhaps, to an English workshop of circa 1830-1840.