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Lot Essay
This piece may have formed part of a delivery to Louis XV in 1763, which comprised a supplement to the 'guirlandes' service acquired by Louis XV in the second half of 1757 via the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux for the Château de Fontainebleau. Louis XV and his court gathered at Fontainebleau in the autumn every year for the hunting season. The service was one of Louis XV's more inexpensive services and was probably used in a principle guest dining room. There were several supplements to the service, the principle one being in 1763, and subsequent supplements were made in 1769 and throughout the 1770s and 1780s.
David Peters, records twenty-six soucoupes à pied at three different prices, reflecting the fact that the delivery included supplements to the 1757 'guirlandes' service (decorated with a white ground, with carmine flower garlands suspended from swags with ribbon-tied bows around a central motif with a radiating royal cypher of crossed L's), alongside additional pieces or a service called 'attribu(t) et groseilles' (decorated with camaïeu carmin flower garlands tied with ribbons, the flatware with a central carmine rosette and the royal cypher, the borders moulded with gilt palms) and a third type called 'groseilles' with polychrome trophies with gilt berried sprigs. See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, Vol. II, pp. 345-348 for a discussion of this service and the various supplements.
Although many of the service wares had a central motif incorporating four radiating royal cyphers there were variations in design and the soucoupe à pied double and the present soucoupe à pied do not have this. Items from this service including a soucoupe à pied double were sold by Christie's Monaco on 7 December 1987, lot 253. For a full discussion of the service see Yves Carlier, Le service Camaïeu Carmin de Fontainebleau, Paris, 2006, and p. 50 for a soucoupe à pied with the central royal cypher, dated 1756.
David Peters, records twenty-six soucoupes à pied at three different prices, reflecting the fact that the delivery included supplements to the 1757 'guirlandes' service (decorated with a white ground, with carmine flower garlands suspended from swags with ribbon-tied bows around a central motif with a radiating royal cypher of crossed L's), alongside additional pieces or a service called 'attribu(t) et groseilles' (decorated with camaïeu carmin flower garlands tied with ribbons, the flatware with a central carmine rosette and the royal cypher, the borders moulded with gilt palms) and a third type called 'groseilles' with polychrome trophies with gilt berried sprigs. See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, Vol. II, pp. 345-348 for a discussion of this service and the various supplements.
Although many of the service wares had a central motif incorporating four radiating royal cyphers there were variations in design and the soucoupe à pied double and the present soucoupe à pied do not have this. Items from this service including a soucoupe à pied double were sold by Christie's Monaco on 7 December 1987, lot 253. For a full discussion of the service see Yves Carlier, Le service Camaïeu Carmin de Fontainebleau, Paris, 2006, and p. 50 for a soucoupe à pied with the central royal cypher, dated 1756.