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A SèVRES LATER-DECORATED PART DESSERT-SERVICE OF A TYPE ASSOCIATED WITH MADAME DU BARRY THE MAJORITY OF THE PORCELAIN 18TH CENTURY, INTERLACED L MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTER S FOR 1771, ONE PLATE WITH DATE LETTER T FOR 1772, ONE SEAU WITH DATE LETTER P (?) FOR 1768, VARIOUS INCISED LETTERS AND NUMERALS, PAINTER’S MARK FOR JEAN-NICOLAS LE BEL, le jeune, AND JEAN-BAPTISTE TANDART, THE DECORATION 19TH CENTURY Decorated with gilt-scroll D and painted floral garland B entwined cyphers, the borders with vignettes of putti amongst clouds within gilt shaped-oval cartouches, flanked by garlands of flowers, laurel wreaths and baskets of flowers, within dark-blue band and gilt dentil rims, comprising: Four two-handled monteiths Two large two-handled bottle-coolers Three two-handled bottle-coolers, smaller Three two-handled bottle-coolers, smaller Seven smaller two-handled bottle-coolers Two large shaped-circular bowls Two shaped-circular bowls, smaller Four shaped-circular serving-dishes Four shell-shaped dishes Two shaped-square dishes Five oval dishes, in sizes Nine shaped-circular luncheon-plates Thirty-two shaped-circular dinner-plates In seven fitted wooden travelling-cases, the locks with one key The large two-handled bottle-coolers (seaux à bouteilles) - 7 3/8 in. (18.8 cm.) high
In 1770, Madame du Barry, Louis XV’s last mistress, ordered a large porcelain service from Sèvres comprising 322 pieces. It was decorated with DB cyphers but the borders had pendant floral garlands divided by antique vases, differing from those on the present lot. The service was delivered to her in August 1771.
Surviving archival evidence at Sèvres suggests that two years later, in 1773, Sèvres began work on another service for the comtesse du Barry. This also had central DB cyphers, but this time the borders were very similar to those on a service produced in the same year (1773) for Queen Maria Carolina Luisa, wife of Ferdinando IV, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies. Queen Maria Carolina’s service had CL cyphers (she was known as Charlotte-Louise in France),1 and the borders of her service are very similar to those of the present lot, with baskets of flowers, garlands of laurel and panels painted with putti.
The archives at Sèvres do not record a service of this design being completed for Madame du Barry. Only a small number of plates of this design appear to have been made, and work on the service appears to have stopped. By the end of 1773, the pieces which were only partially decorated were sent to storage in the Magazin de Blanc (a store which was usually used for wares which were still undecorated). At a later date they were sold off and subsequently the decoration on these pieces was ‘completed’ (in slightly varying ways) in the 19th century.2 It is not clear why production was halted. A few months later, in May 1774, Louis XV died and Madame du Barry, who was deeply unpopular with the new Queen Marie-Antoinette (among others), was banished to a convent at the Abbey du Pont-aux-Dames. She remained there for a year before being allowed to leave, and eventually she was able to return to Chateau de Louveciennes, which Louis XV had given to her for her use in 1769. Madame du Barry was at Louveciennes when she was arrested on 22nd September 1793.
An inventory (dated 18th January 1795) of Madame du Barry’s chattels seized from Louveciennes records her 1771 service (described as service fond blanc à guirlandes et petites vases avec le chiffre DB). Another small service was described as service fond bleu et blanc avec médaillons representant des Amours. At first sight this description could relate to the design of the present service, but the inventory does not mention chiffre DB, and David Peters has identified it as a service listed in the archives which was the third service which the comtesse du Barry acquired.3
As the present service bears date letters for 1771, two years before the second