Lot Essay
The present plates are from a service commissioned by Louis XV as a diplomatic gift on the occasion of the marriage of his grandson Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, Comte de Provence (later Louis XVIII), to Marie-Josephine-Louise de Savoie, eldest surviving daughter of the King of Sardinia. The service is recorded in the Journal des Présents du Roi as “Un Service de porcelain de Séve” made specificially for the comte de Lascaris and valued at 15,330 livres 12 sol 6 deniers. A large portion of the service is retained at the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome. See D. Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, vol. II, Little Berkhamstead, 2005, pp. 449-451 for a further discussion.