CIRCA 1760, BLUE INTERLACED L MARK ENCLOSING DATE LETTER G, LINE AND DOT PAINTER'S MARK FOR LOUIS-JEAN THEVENET, INCISED CT

This plate is probably from one of two services sold by the factory in 1760: one service was sold on the 29 March to the Marquis de Paulmy, the other during the second quarter of 1760 to Madame Lair. Antoine-René de Voyer d'Argenson, Marquis de Paulmy, was Minister of War (1757-58), French Ambassador to Poland (1760-64), Ambassador Extraordinary to Saxony (1760-63) and Ambassador to Venice (1767-8). Madame Marie Herbin Lair was a marchand-mercier whose name appears regularly in the Sèvres sales records. She was the widow of Michel-Joseph Lair and successor in business to Gilles Bazin, rue de Roule, Paris. Both services are discussed by David Peters, see Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, pp. 317-320, service nos. 60-1 and 60-2. A plate from one of these two services, also by Thévenet, was sold by Christie's, London, on 12 May 2010, lot 235 and another example was sold by Christie's, London, on 3 June 2014, lot 38.

Louis-Jean Thévenet (père or l'aîné) was a painter of flowers and patterns and was active at Vincennes and Sèvres from 1741 to 1778.