Twelve Sèvres (hard paste) porcelain violet-ground dessert plates from the service for Napoléon I at the Palais de Bordeaux , circa 1807-1808

Auction Closed

June 25, 05:03 PM GMT

Estimate

6,000 - 8,000 EUR

Lot Details

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Description

each with a central gilt rosette within a violet-ground band and border of trailing pink anemones and foliage, partially erased red stencilled Manufacture Impériale de Sèvres marks above 7 for 1807 or 8 for 1808, painter's mark for Cyprien-Julien Hirel de Choisy and M.B. mark probably for Marie-Jeanne-Barbe to some pieces in red enamel, various incised letters and numerals


(12)


Diam. 23 cm ; Diam. 9 in.

Emperor Napoléon I, Palais de Bordeaux, purchased in June 1808;

Galerie Royal Provenance, Paris

C. Leprince, Napoléon Ier & la Manufacture de Sèvres: L'art de la porcelain au service de l'Empire, Paris, 2016, p. 270, no. 113

The service to which these plates belong was bought on 25 June 1808 for Napoléon I's use at the Palais de Bordeaux. On their way to Spain to resolve a dynastic quarrel, the Imperial couple stopped in Bordeaux in Spring 1808. It was the Emperor's custom to furnish the different palaces he stayed in, such as the Palais Rohan in Bordeaux and the Palais de Marracq in Bayonne. A dinner and dessert service, described as 'fond violet frise anémone coloriée', it was recorded in the Sales Register on 9 March 1808 (Sèvres, Cité de la céramique, Archives, Vu1, fol. 56) and included ninety plates, thirty-six soup plates and a variety of other forms. The total cost for both parts amounted to 3314 francs, plus an additional supplement of two small baskets at 288 francs. See Camille Leprince, Napoléon Ier & la Manufacture de Sèvres: L'art de la porcelain au service de l'Empire, Paris, 2016, p. 270, no. 113. A single plate from the service was sold at Bonhams, London, 27 October 2021, lot 26.

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