A Sèvres (hard paste) porcelain beau bleu ground dessert plate from the 'Egyptian Service' ordered by the dowager Empress Joséphine, 1811
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
the centre painted en gris with the temple of Philae in Egypt, signed by Swebach on the lower left of the scene, inscribed 'autre vue de l'Isle de Philoé de l'Ouest à l'Est' in black on the reverse, the beau bleu ground gilt with a figural border incorporating hieroglyphic tablets and Egyptian-inspired motifs, red stencilled de Sevres mark and date 1811, 28.j.v in green enamel, incised letter L, indistinct incised numerals
Diam. 23,5 cm; diam. 9.1/4 in.
Produced in October 1811 for the Egyptian service made for Joséphine, dowager empress, ordered by Napoléon I in January 1810 and the service delivered in April 1812;
The service is rejected and sent back to the manufactory, where it is kept in the warehouse for six years;
Offered by King Louis XVIII on 21 march 1818 to Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), duke of Wellington, British Ambassador in France, with sixty-six plates of the seventy-seven produced;
Vente Osenat, Fontainebleau, 8 Decembre 2019, lot 218.
Musée de Saint Omer, Le Sacre de Napoléon, 18 June-25 September 2022, p. 11
Cat exp. Napoléon Ier et la manufacture de Sèvres, l'art de la porcelaine au service de l'Empire, galerie Aveline, 8 September-9 October 2016
N. Kazakévitch, « Porcelaine de Sèvres, le service égyptien en Russie », Sèvres, Revue de la société des amis du musée national de Céramique, n° 4, 1995, pp. 24-29.
T. Préaud et P Arozzoli-Clémentel¸ « Le service égyptien offert par Napoléon 1er au Tsar Alexandre 1er de Russie en 1808 », Versailles et les Tables royales en Europe, catalogue d’exposition, 3 November 1993 – 27 February 1994, pp. 236, 358-364.
S. Grandjean, “Le cabaret égyptien de l’Impératrice Joséphine”, La Revue du Louvre, April 1985, n° 2, pp. 124 et s.
C. Truman, The Sevres Egyptian Service 1818-1812, London, 1982.
P Arizzoli-Clémentel, « Les surtout impériaux en porcelaine de Sèvres, 1804-1814 », Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz, Mitteilingsblat, n° 88, May 1976, p. 17
J. Wilson, « Little Gifts Keep Friendship Alive, an Historic Sèvres dessert Service”, Apollo, July 1975, pp. 50-60.
P. Verlet, Les Grands Services de Sèvres, 1951, pp. 46-48.
Musée de Saint Omer, Le Sacre de Napoléon, 18 June-25 September 2022