CIRCA 1769, BLUE INTERLACED L MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTER Q, PAINTER'S MARK FOR DOMINIQUE JOFFROY, INCISED ENTWINED C'S

The present plate may have been part of a service purchased from the Sèvres factory by the marchand-mercier Madame Lair in the first half of 1770, the majority of which was subsequently acquired by George IV in the early 19th century and is now in the British Royal Collection. David Peters discusses the dual pricing structure of this service, with 36 assiettes forming part of the 1770 delivery to Madame Lair at a cost of 36 livres each, and a further group of 48 assiettes at 27 livres each. Peters suggests that the higher priced assiettes would indicate decoration of a solid or patterned ground colour, painted with polychrome reserves, as seen on the present plate. Peters proposes that a bleu céleste ground service decorated with flower bouquets, which is in the British Royal Collection and which was acquired by George IV, is the most likely candidate for the 1770 Madame Lair delivery, see Sèvres Plates and Services of the Eighteenth Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2015, Vol. II, pp. 439-441. Part of this service is included in an inventory of property recorded in 1826 in the Confectionary at Carlton House: 'No. 130. A Dessert Service of light blue and gold Seve Porcelain...purchased of Lord Essex. Consisting of 3 Dozen dessert plates (34)...', see Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, Vol. II, pp. 604-608, cat. no. 152. Thirty-four plates from this service are now in the Royal Collection (see inv. nos. 58383.1-34) with most of the service dated 1769-70. Bellaigue discusses the acquisition of the service by George IV, suggesting that it is very likely that he purchased the service from the 5th Earl of Essex, George Capel-Coninsby, a close friend and fellow Francophile, with whom he shared political views and artistic tastes. Perhaps also significant is the fact that Mr. Fogg, presumably the dealer Robert Fogg, is stated to be the 'agent of the Earl of Essex' in the Customs House records in January 1816, see Bellaigue, Ibid., 2009, Vol. II, p. 607.

Other pieces, not in the Royal Collection, but with the same distinctive gilding pattern and similar decoration are known, these include three plates in the collection of the musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, one is dated 1769 and is also painted by Joffroy (Inv. GR 272). Another plate is in the Hillwood Museum and Gardens, Washington, D.C. (Inv. 24.61). On 17 July 1895, Christie's sold a Sèvres plate dated 1770, painted by Thevenet and described as 'painted in the center with a bouquet of flowers, turquoise border with sprays of flowers in three medallions, gilt festoons in low relief' which may be another of Essex Service type.

Dominique Joffroy was as a painter of flowers and figures at Sèvres from 1753 to 1770.