A Sèvres Porcelain Revolutionary Cup and Saucer (Gobelet à Boizot et soucoupe), circa 1793
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A Sèvres Porcelain Revolutionary Cup and Saucer (Gobelet à Boizot et soucoupe), circa 1793
the cup with an oval medallion on either side, one painted with a masonic triangle tied with a tricolor ribbon, the other oval seemingly erased, the saucer with three medallions of further symbolic imagery, including three entwined laurel wreaths, a sword and scales, and a fasces, reserved by a blue-ground heightened with gilt dots, with bands of oak leaf bands, gilt-dentil rims, script Sevres marks in blue over /R.F for République Française, painter's mark L R for Mme Jeanne -Joséphine Roguier, née Le Riche (active at Sèvres between 1783-93), gilder's mark Gi for Étienne Gabriel Girard (active at Sèvres between 1762-64, 1772-74, 1776-1805), incised numeral 46 to both pieces, and numeral 18 to cup
diameter of saucer 5 1/8 in.
13 cm
Pierre and Jeanne Hintermeyer Collection, Thierry de Maigret, Paris, 25 June, 2021, lot 172;
Where acquired by the present collector.
On 6 October 1789, the workers of the Sèvres manufactory witnessed an extraordinary spectacle: Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the french royal family passing through the town of Sèvres under escort as they were compelled to leave Versailles for the last time and head for Paris.
Deprived of much of its aristocratic clientele, the manufactory endured considerable hardship brought on by the revolution. Sèvres nevertheless continued production, although wages were often reduced or went unpaid. The factory remained royal property until the establishment of the Republic in August 1792, when it passed under state control. In 1793, the Minister of the Interior, Dominique-Joseph Garat, ordered the destruction of moulds and models associated with the monarchy. The factory's director, Antoine Régnier, assigned seven workers to carry out the task, systematically dismantling works bearing overt royal associations. At the same time, the celebrated interlaced L mark was replaced by RF (République Française), sometimes accompanied by the name Sèvres. During the Revolutionary period, the manufactory became an important vehicle for the dissemination of civic and republican ideals. Étienne-Maurice Falconet's graceful L'Éducation de l'Amour gave way to subjects such as L'Éducation du Citoyen, La France gardant sa Constitution, and La Liberté et l'Égalité, modelled by Louis-Simon Boizot. Charles-Nicolas Dodin likewise produced painted allegories celebrating the new political order.
As demonstrated by the present lot, Revolutionary iconography quickly entered the painters' repertoire, with tricolour ribbons reflecting the new political order. Together, these motifs encapsulate the visual language of Revolutionary France and the transformation of Sèvres from a royal manufactory into an instrument of the Republic.
This model of cup, known as a gobelet or tasse à anse Boizot, is recorded in titled drawings in the Sèvres archives and was probably in production by 1786. The unusual handle form also occurs on the large tureens of the service made for Marie Antoinette's dairy at Rambouillet. A green-ground gobelet à Boizot and saucer, also decorated by Roguier and Girard, was sold at Osenat, Versailles, on 26 November 2023, lot 107. The painted medallions on that example appear identical to those of the present cup and saucer, suggesting that the medallion on the cup, now seemingly erased, may originally have depicted a Phrygian cap like that on the Osenat example.
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