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Lot Essay
Emblazoned with the arms of the French crown surrounded by the orders of St. Michel and the Saint Esprit, this extraordinary pair of sugar bowls and the four lots that follow are from a service commissioned for Louis XV from the Conseil de direction de Canton probably in two parts, as Antoine Lebel's archival research has shown (see French and Swiss Armorials on Chinese Export Porcelain), now believed by him and other scholars to have been in 1732 and 1738 (with a separate 1733 order for 12 matching bidets). Their rich iron-red, cobalt blue and white detailing recalls Japanese Imari porcelains by which there were, no doubt, inspired, and their forms reflect the very latest European fashion, soon to be made in European porcelain.
Although silver services would most likely have been used for official meals, the King and his private guests would likely have dined on this very grand Chinese porcelain in his newly constructed winter dining room on the third floor of the Château de Versailles. The service was in royal use until 1753, when Louis XV received his first, celebrated service from the Vincennes factory, after which time the Chinese service was first employed by officials in the King's court and then distributed among royal chateaux in Paris and its environs, much eventually descending in the Orleans branch of the royal family. See French historian Stéphane Castelluccio's new work on the royal inventories, including references to the service ("Le service de porcelain de Chine aux armes de Louis XV," L'Objet d'Art, April 2011, pps. 66-72).
These five lots are the last of a magnificent group of French royal Chinese export collected by the late Benjamin F Edwards III. The first part of the group was sold at Christie's, New York over three sales: 22 January 2002, 22 January 2002 and 20 January 2004.
Although silver services would most likely have been used for official meals, the King and his private guests would likely have dined on this very grand Chinese porcelain in his newly constructed winter dining room on the third floor of the Château de Versailles. The service was in royal use until 1753, when Louis XV received his first, celebrated service from the Vincennes factory, after which time the Chinese service was first employed by officials in the King's court and then distributed among royal chateaux in Paris and its environs, much eventually descending in the Orleans branch of the royal family. See French historian Stéphane Castelluccio's new work on the royal inventories, including references to the service ("Le service de porcelain de Chine aux armes de Louis XV," L'Objet d'Art, April 2011, pps. 66-72).
These five lots are the last of a magnificent group of French royal Chinese export collected by the late Benjamin F Edwards III. The first part of the group was sold at Christie's, New York over three sales: 22 January 2002, 22 January 2002 and 20 January 2004.