CIRCA 1792, CROWNED IRON-RED INTERLACED L'S MARK, PAINTER'S MARK FOR L.-A. LE GRAND

The present tasse à glace is almost certainly from the set of fourteen sold to "Mons(ieur) Milmes" in June 1792 at a cost of 18 livres each. The entry in the sales records notes a total of 11 but with the correct total selling price of 252 livres.

Although a concentrated dark blue ground, which the eye reads as black, was developed at Sèvres in the early 1780s, it was not until 6 May 1791 that the first of a series of services recorded in the factory records as "fond noir Chinois en or de couleurs et platine fleurs mail" was delivered to "A.M. de Semonville Ambassadeur" (Peters 91-2). Subsequent services include the present collection sold to Monsieur Milmes [sic] in 1792 (Peters 92-4) and a third large group of wares and sets of plates to the dealer Citoyen Empaytaz & Cie (Peters 94-11).

Interest in this style of decoration may have been spurred on by the production of some important suites of lacquer furniture delivered to the royal family at the palaces of Versailles, Saint-Cloud, Compiègne and Bellevue in the 1780s. The use of platinum in place of silver was introduced at this time, the main advantage being that the platinum did not tarnish.

The different permutations in which black ground gilt and platinum Chinoiserie decoration appears on teawares, service wares, and vases at Sèvres, a discussion of the likely sources for the decoration, and the 18th century European taste for Japanese lacquer that prompted its production. For an analysis of the factory's production see Selma Schwartz, "Chinoiserie Decoration on Black-ground Sèvres Porcelain", Schwartz Porcelain - The Lacquer Craze and its Impact on European Porcelain, Exhibition Catalogue, Museum für Lackkunst and Schloss Favorite near Rastatt, 2003, vol. III, pp. 98-107.

Louis-Antoine Le Grand fils, later père, is recorded as a painter of figures, chinoiserie, birds, flowers and patterns, as well as a gilder, from 1776-1817.