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pair of blue and gold vases with pictures of people on themtwo blue and white vases with pictures of people on thema blue and gold vase with a painting on ita blue and gold vase with a painting on ita blue and gold vase with a painting on ita blue and gold vase with a painting on itpair of blue and white porcelain bowls with gold trimmingsa close up of a plate with a dog on ita picture of a plate with a bird on itPhoto 10/10 du lot
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173 - TWO 18TH-CENTURY OVAL, CRENELLATED SÈVRES PORCELAIN BUCKETS …
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Estimate €700,000 - €1,000,000
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Description
TWO 18TH-CENTURY OVAL, CRENELLATED SÈVRES PORCELAIN BUCKETS FROM THE LOUIS XVI ‘BEAU BLEU’ SERVICE Oval in shape, with handles in the form of acanthus leaves, featuring a ‘Beau Bleu’ background with polychrome decoration; one depicts a scene of Dido and Aeneas on one side and the death of Adonis on the other; the other bucket is decorated with the birth of Adonis and, on the reverse, with Psyche in the Underworld. The cartouches are framed by garlands of foliage and gold scrollwork. The first is marked in gold: interlaced ‘LL’, the mark of the gilder Étienne-Henry Leguay The second is marked in gold: interlaced ‘LL’, the mark of the gilder Henry-François Vincent Incised mark: ‘8’ on both buckets. H.: 13 cm and 12.8 cm (5 in.) L.: 30.5 cm and 30.3 cm (12 in.) W.: 20.5 cm and 19.5 cm (8 in.) They rest on 19th-century gilded bronze bases in the Louis XVI style, one bearing an incised ‘DEL’ mark on the reverse. Provenance: The so-called ‘beau bleu, miniatures’ service commissioned by Louis XVI for his use at Versailles; Assigned by the Revolutionary Government to the National Museum (Louvre) in 1793, then sold at auction in 1797–1798; Charles Davis, Frederick Davis & Son, 47 Pall Mall, London; Baroness Charlotte Nathaniel de Rothschild (1825–1899); Baron Henri James Nathaniel de Rothschild (1872–1947), then passed down through the family. Bibliography: P. Verlet, *Le grand service de Sèvres du roi Louis XVI*, Faenza, 1948, pp. 120–121. C. Baulez, ‘Notes on some furniture and works of art from the private apartments of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette’, *La Revue du Louvre*, 5/6, 1978, pp. 359–373. G. de Bellaigue, *The Louis XVI Service*, Cambridge University Press, 1986. From Versailles to Paris: The Fate of the Royal Collections, Paris, Panthéon Cultural Centre, 5th arrondissement town hall, 1989, p. 264. A. Sassoon, Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collections, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California, 1991, no. 26, pp. 146–150. D. Peters, ‘The Porcelain Services of Louis XV and Louis XVI’, and G. de Bellaigue, ‘The Louis XVI Service’, in Versailles and the Royal Tables of Europe, Paris, RMN, 1992, pp. 293–298. C. Baulez, ‘Versailles and Sèvres Porcelain: A Very Successful Seven-Year Period’, *Versalia*, 1, 1998, pp. 18–21. D. Peters, *Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century*, Little Berkhamsted, 2015, vol. III, nos. 83–10, pp. 705–710. M.L. de Rochebrune, ‘An exceptional acquisition for Versailles: a plate from Louis XVI’s mythological service’, Versalia, no. 25, 2022, pp. 19–28. Two oval-shaped Sèvres porcelain verrieres, 18th century, from Louis XVI’s “Beau Bleu” service THE LOUIS XVI SERVICE: A ROYAL CONCEPT The two crenellated glass buckets come from one of the most ambitious, erudite and sumptuous services produced by the Sèvres porcelain manufactory in the 18th century: King Louis XVI’s mythological service, or ‘miniature Beau Bleu’. This service was first documented by Pierre Verlet in 1948 in an article published in the journal *Faenza*, and was subsequently the subject of a highly detailed study by Geoffrey de Bellaigue in 1986. The design of the service, commissioned in 1782, was the work of the king himself, who defined its composition and determined its iconographic programme, drawing subjects from Greek and Roman history, mythology and the adventures of Telemachus. The king also drew up the schedule: two handwritten schedules in his own hand, held at the National Archives (A.N. K506, no. 21¹⁴), list the types of pieces, quantities and prices year by year, from 1783–1784 up to 1805. From the outset, the service was intended to be produced over a period of twenty-three years, delivered in instalments at the end of each year. The small number of pieces delivered each year was due to the limited number of artists at the manufactory capable of painting scenes with figures: for the entire service, only eight decorators were involved in painting the backgrounds — Charles-Nicolas Dodin, Charles-Éloi Asselin, Pierre-André Leguay, Charles-Claude Gérard, François-Pascal Philippine (known as ‘the Elder’), Pierre-Nicolas Pithou (known as ‘the Younger’), Nicolas-Pierre Pithou (known as ‘the Elder’) and Charles-Antoine Didier. The first part of the service was delivered at the end of 1783, ‘at the Voyage de Versailles’, that is to say, during the annual exhibition in December in the King’s apartments at the Palace of Versailles. The final pieces were delivered to the king in 1792, no longer at Versailles but at the Louvre, where the annual exhibition had been held since the winter of 1789–1790 following the royal family’s move to Paris. Of the 422 pieces originally planned, 198 were actually produced before the king’s arrest in August 1792, which brought production to a halt. One hundred and eighty-one of these were delivered to the king between 1783 and 1791. Seventeen pieces produced in 1792 but not delivered remained in stock at the factory: five were purchased by the dealer Lignereux in 1802, and the remaining twelve by the dealer Moelrondt in 1809. THE TWO CRENELLATED GLASS BOWLS FROM THE KING’S SERVICE The two crenellated glass bowls — the only two in the King’s service — were purchased by Louis XVI, one at the exhibition at Versailles on 5 January 1785, the other at the exhibition at the Louvre between 22 December 1791 and 13 January 1792, each at the considerable price of 720 livres. They are mentioned in the sales registers held in the archives of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory (Vy9 and Vy11, f° 107, fig. 1), as well as in the records of porcelain delivered to the King held at the National Archives (A.N. K506, no. 21, fig. 2). The decoration on the crenellated bucket delivered in December 1791 is specified there as: Psyche in the Underworld and the Birth of Adonis. The painters’ work registers confirm that both were painted by Pierre-André Leguay. The first, decorated with Dido and Aeneas and the Death of Adonis, is mentioned under Leguay’s name on 30 August 1784: ‘1 crenellated bucket id [beautiful blue] id [small design] ’ (Arch. Sèvres, Vj3, f° 140, fig. 3). This same bowl appears in the firing register of 16 December 1784: ‘one crenellated mignature bucket’ (Arch. Sèvres, Vl2, fig. 4). The second crenellated glass bucket is recorded in the painters’ work register under the name of Leguay, painter, on 28 January 1791: ‘1 crenellated bucket, beautiful blue, King’s Service’ (Arch. Sèvres, Vj5, f° 137, fig. 5).
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About the sale The Rothschild taste, passed down through the generations: A pied-à-terre on the Champ-de-Mars
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Auction time 09/22/2026 at 2:30 PM
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