GALLERY
A RARE SÈVRES PORCELAIN IMPERIAL PLATE
€ 40000
A RARE SÈVRES PORCELAIN IMPERIAL PLATE
FROM THE SERVICE PARTICULIER OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I
€ 40000
Object N° 2109

Hard-paste porcelain plate called “à monter”, the marli with a chrome green background with gold decoration of a frieze representing antique-style swords united by ribbons and interwoven with a garland of laurels, between each sword a five-branches star, bordered by two large gold rims; the center adorned with a gold rosette.

Good overall condition, slight wear of the gold, a restored shine on the reverse.

Sèvres Imperial Manufactory, Empire period, circa 1812.

Painter's mark in green: “13. ms. 12 ”(March 13, 1812).

Posterior mark in red stamp: "Manufre de FOËSCY / Fb St Martin n ° 45 / à Paris".

D. 23.5 cm.

Provenance

Paid for 65,449 francs in total with its surtout in biscuit, the Emperor's particular service is certainly one of the most famous in the history of porcelain. Begun in 1807, the service was delivered to the Tuileries just before the imperial wedding of April 2, 1810. It included a starter and a dessert service, a biscuit table top, and a coffee cabaret. The most famous plates are the 72 with polychrome views called "des Quartiers Généraux", at a unit price of 425 francs, which was a record for the time.

Apart from the painted dessert plates, it included 24 soup plates for the starter and 24 dessert plates called "à monter", of which ours is one. Manufactured in 1812, it is part of a restocking but does not seem to have received a red stamped mark from the Imperial Manufacture of Sèvres, perhaps for lack of having been delivered (4 plates were notably delivered on January 30, 1812 "for assortment "to the

Grand Maréchal du Palais (arch. Sèvres, City of ceramics, Vy21, f ° 3 v °)) ; likewise, it has not undergone the marking of the double "L" interlaced hollow ordered by Louis XVIII at the First Restoration for the pieces which were still in the Tuileries at the time of his enthronement in 1814.

Napoleon took to Saint Helena only about 60 painted plates (out of the 72 manufactured) and 12 plates "à couteau" (probably those for soup), so called in Marchand's inventory, after the death of the Emperor in Saint Helena.

There are three other known plates with the mark on the reverse affixed subsequently from the Foëscy factory (two kept in Sèvres, see below), this therefore indicates: - either that the plates decorated but not delivered were sold by Sèvres to the Foëscy house around 1814; - either that these plates were delivered but that Louis XVIII decided to resell part of them in 1814 to Foëscy, which had a depot in Paris and its factory in the Cher.

Related works

- 1 soup plate at the Sèvres museum, Sèvres mark in red for the year 1810, with the double "L" in the hollow, and marked n° "82" (perhaps sent to Sainte-Hélène?). Deposit of Malmaison, donated by MRS Fahnestock-Campell. This plate is broken in two parts.

- 1 soup plate at the Château de Fontainebleau with the same markings with the n° "81". Same provenance.

- 1 soup plate in private collection, Colonna Walewski, with the n° "91".

- 2 plates "à monter" at the Musée de Sèvres, incised marks of Sèvres, mark of the painter with green paint for one: "May 5, 14 n ° 2", for the other: "35. 36" and marks in red, on both: "Manufre de FOËSCY Fb St-Martin N ° 45 in Paris" affixed subsequently.

- 1 plate "à monter", the date erased, sold at Metayer Mermoz at Antibes, 4 February 2021, lot 15 (sold 61.740 €). Today in the collection Pierre-Jean Chalençon.

- 1 plate "à monter", dated "August 10, 12", sold at Thierry de Maigret, April 8, 2016, lot 184 (sold for € 40,000). Today in the Bruno Ledoux collection.

- 1 plate "à monter", dated "May 5, 14 n ° 1", sold at Osenat, November 19, 2017, lot 184 (auctioned for € 40,000).

Literature

Napoleon I and Sèvres, L’art de la porcelaine au service de l'Empire, collective work edited by Camille Leprince, Paris, 2016, n ° 154, p. 282.