A Sèvres (Hard-Paste) Porcelain Faux Marbre-Ground 'Dauphin' Cup and Saucer (gobelet litron et soucoupe), circa 1781
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A Sèvres (Hard-Paste) Porcelain Faux Marbre-Ground 'Dauphin' Cup and Saucer (gobelet litron et soucoupe), circa 1781
of the second size, the cup painted with cartouche showing Jupiter as an eagle crowning a dolphin, beside a pink rose and a lily growing from a mound, the verso with a medallion of a rebus and two geese within a conjoined double wreath cartouche flanked by a pink rose and a lily, the saucer with gilt interlaced L's enclosing a dolphin holding a rose and a lily, the border with three gilt medallions enclosing a rose and a lily, the cartouches formed of wreaths with grasses and laurel wreaths in two-colour gilding, the borders painted in pink to simulate marble reserving bands of 'pearls', crowned interlaced LL marks in purple enclosing date letters DD or dd for 1781, painter's mark F for Jean-Armand Fallot (active at Sèvres between 1764-88 1790), indistinct incised cursive letters to cup
diameter of saucer 5 5/8 in.
14.2 cm
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, New York, 21 November, 2008, lot 191;
Property from a Private European Collection, Christie's, New York, 23 April, 2024, lot 37;
Where acquired by the present collector.
This cup commemorates the long-awaited birth of Louis Joseph Xavier, Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, on 22 October 1781. The allegorical devices employed on the present cup and saucer are numerous. Included are the lily, emblematic of France and, by extension, Louis XVI, as well as Innocence, Birth and Beauty; and the rose, symbolic of Tender Love and, by extension, Marie-Antoinette. The dolphin, or dauphin, is a reference to the royal baby. More complex, however, is the rebus incorporated into the decoration of the cup.
At its centre is a garland forming the figure 8, or alternatively 7 + 1, set between the crossed stems of a lily and a rose. The numeral alludes to birth and regeneration, while it may also be read as a symbol of infinity, evoking both the enduring power of the French monarchy. The upper loop encloses the gilt zodiac sign of Libra (23 September to 22 October), under which the Dauphin was born. The lower loop contains two geese, deux oies in French, which forms a phonetic pun on de roi ("of the king").
Tragically, Louis Joseph Xavier died of tuberculosis at the Château de Meudon in 1789, at the age of seven, and was succeeded as Dauphin by his younger brother, Louis Charles.
A closely related gobelet litron and saucer painted by Louis-François Lécot, decorated with similar imagery of dolphins, interlaced LL's, and bearing the inscription La Voeu de la France. 22.8.1781, is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 786-1882.).
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