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Lot Essay
Described in the sales records as fond bleu de Roi, peint en Groupes de fleures et fuits, et riche dorure, the present plates are from a service presented by the French crown to the Conde d'Aranda upon the completion of his tour as Ambassador of Spain to the King of France. This rich and extensive service was the second listed in the Sèvres records with a distinctive ground color in "beau bleu ou bleu Royal", only superseded by the service made for the French King himself, much of which is now in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.
The set was a fitting offering for a man noted as a generous and lavish host and a patron of porcelain factories in France and his native Spain. D'Aranda brought the service home with him and it remained in the royal palace in Madrid until 1836, when it was sold at auction by James Christie in his Great Rooms, St James's as "A splendid dessert service of the rarest Sevres porcelain purchased at the sale of the property of Don Carlos in his apartment at the Palace of Madrid." Other notable parts of the service have subsequently been sold by Christie's through to the present day.
For a full discussion of the service see D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. IV, pp. 817-820.
Jean-Jacques Pierre le jeune is recorded as painter of flowers and patterns and as a gilder at the factory from 1763-1800. Henri-Martin Prévost is recorded as a gilder at the factory from 1757-1797. Denis Levé is recroded as a painter of flowers, patterns and birds at the facotry from 1754-1793 and 1795-1805. Decambos is recorded as a gilder and painter of flowers and patters at the factory from 1776-1788.
The set was a fitting offering for a man noted as a generous and lavish host and a patron of porcelain factories in France and his native Spain. D'Aranda brought the service home with him and it remained in the royal palace in Madrid until 1836, when it was sold at auction by James Christie in his Great Rooms, St James's as "A splendid dessert service of the rarest Sevres porcelain purchased at the sale of the property of Don Carlos in his apartment at the Palace of Madrid." Other notable parts of the service have subsequently been sold by Christie's through to the present day.
For a full discussion of the service see D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. IV, pp. 817-820.
Jean-Jacques Pierre le jeune is recorded as painter of flowers and patterns and as a gilder at the factory from 1763-1800. Henri-Martin Prévost is recorded as a gilder at the factory from 1757-1797. Denis Levé is recroded as a painter of flowers, patterns and birds at the facotry from 1754-1793 and 1795-1805. Decambos is recorded as a gilder and painter of flowers and patters at the factory from 1776-1788.