SÈVRES - Lot 275

SÈVRES Hard porcelain covered oval tureen from the Japan service, decorated in blue, red and gold in the Imari style with pairs of birds, flowering vases, butterflies on terraces in reserves and stylized flowers on a blue background. Marked: LL interlaced in gold, no letter-date, Weydinger gilder's mark. 18th century. L.: 35 cm, W.: 24 cm. Small chips on the edge of the lid. Four services whose decoration is described as "Japon" were sold by the Sèvres factory in the 18th century. One was delivered to Queen Marie-Antoinette in December 1777, another to Voltaire's niece Madame Denis in October 1778. The third for Cardinal de Rohan in February 1779, and the last for Prince Cardinal Giuseppe Doria Pamphili, Secretary of State to Pope Pius VI, in May 1780. Madame Denis' service did not include a terrine, while the service delivered to Marie-Antoinette included two soup tureens at 168 each, and the last two Japanese services each included four pots à oille, terrines and platters at 720 livres each. The great difference in price implies that the decoration of the tureens in the service delivered to Marie-Antoinette must have been simpler than that of the terrines in the 1779 and 1780 services. Selma Schwartz has shown that the service delivered to Marie-Antoinette was a gift for her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (Catalogue de l'exposition Marie-Antoinette, 15 mars-30 juin 2008, Paris, n° 144, p. 204). A similarly decorated plate from one of these of these services is preserved at the Cité de la Céramique, (Selma Schwartz, op. cit.) (See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, vol. III, numbers 77-7, 78-4, 79-1 and 80-2). A comparable terrine is now in the Musée de Sèvres (PIASA sale, Paris, May 30, 2012, lot 140).