CIRCA 1772-90, MOST WITH PUCE CROWNED INTERLACED L MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTER T, PAINTER'S MARKS FOR ANDRE-VINCENT VIELLIARD (PERE), JACQUES PIERRE (L'AINE) AND OTHERS, VARIOUS INCISED MARKS

The intriguing provenance labels applied to the underside of this service suggest that it was given as a royal gift by Madame Elisabeth, to a 'Madame de Berchini'.¹ Elisabeth Philippe Marie Hélèn of France (1764-96), also known as Madame Elisabeth, was the youngest daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony. There are however, no records of Madame Elisabeth purchasing a service in the Sèvres factory archives in circa 1773 and bearing in mind her young age at this time, it would seem unlikely. However, there is a record of her aunt, Madame Sophie (1734-82), daughter of Louis XV, purchasing a tea service in December 1773, comprising: six cups and saucers, a teapot, a sugar-pot and a milk-jug described as 'fond d’or paysage'. This may be the present lot, with a small number of replacement pieces, probably acquired later in the 18th century. 'Madame de Berchini, brue du maréchal de ce nom', may be a refence to the daughter-in-law of Ladislas Ignace, comte de Berchény, Marshal of France, (d.1778). He was a Hungarian nobleman, exiled in France, who was a skilled soldier who was given permission by Louis XIV to create a regiment of hussars under his own name. After a distinguished military career he became Marshal of France in 1756. The comte de Berchény had twelve children; one of his sons, Franz Anton Ladislaus (b.1744) also served in the French army, reaching the rank of maréchal de camp, so it is unclear which maréchal is referred to here. The service was by repute then given to a 'Madame Doublet de Persan', probably a descendant of Marie Anne Doublet (d.1771), the French scholar and writer, and thence by descent to 'M^lle Anne Félicité Doublet de Persan'. The note states that the service was passed to a 'Monsieur A. Cornilleau' and subsequently to a 'Madame Fortunet' and was then bequeathed by her daughter to her cousin, 'Mme P. de. Bere'.

Finely painted en camaïeu rose, with monochrome landscapes elegantly set within broad gilt borders of wreaths, this service encapsulates the taste for the Neo-Classical, which was popular at the Sèvres factory and throughout the decorative arts and interiors of the period. During the 1750s, a number of seventeenth century Dutch and French engravings served as inspiration for painters at Vincennes and later at Sèvres. These included works by the French engraver Sébastien Le Clerc (d.1714) who produced a series of 60 plates dedicated to the duc de Bourgogne, in circa 1696.² These landscape etchings remained popular throughout the 18th century and were reprinted numerous times. Joanna Gwilt illustrates a Vincennes seau à verre ordinaire decorated in camaïeu pourpre with a landscape after Le Clerc, see Vincennes and Early Sèvres Porcelain in the Belvedere Collection, London, 2014, p. 100. The painter André-Vincent Vielliard (père, active from 1752 to 1790), who decorated the majority of the landscapes on this service, could have been inspired by etchings by Le Clerc.

1. The 19th century ink manuscript labels to the underside of this service state: 'six tasses un pot à crème, un sucrier, une théière en porcelaine de vieux Sèvres donnés par Madame Elisabeth, fille de Louis XV (sic) à Madame de Berchini, brue du maréchal de ce nom. M de Berchini en fit présent à madame Doublet de Persan et la fille de cette dame, M^lle Anne Félicité Doublet de Persan m’a transmis cs objets par testament; ce service a café est passé de Monsieur A Cornilleau à madame Fortunet sa fille laquelle l’a laissé pat testament à sa cousine Mme P. de Bere.'


2. Le Clerc was employed as tutor of drawings and perspectives to the young Bourbon prince and these etchings were a study aid.