CIRCA 1768, INTERLACED BLUE L MARKS ENCLOSING DATE LETTER P, TRACES OF INDISTINCT PAINTER'S MARK, INCISED J

First appearing in the December 1763 credit sales for Versailles as purchases by King Louis XV, 'au Roy', this service was supplemented several times by both Louis XV and Louis XVI. The 1763 purchase and the later supplements included wares in the 'attribu(t)s et groiseiles' design for use at the château de Versailles and wares in the 'guirlandes' design; the latter ordered as supplements to a service purchased by Louis XV in 1757 for use at the château de Fontainebleau. The first service delivery of 1763 probably included some of the soucoupes à pied from the 'attribu(t)s et groiseiles' service, of which there were six at a cost of 36 livres each. It is most likely that the present soucoupe à pied would have been part of one of the post 1763 supplement deliveries to Versailles.

David Peters discusses the 1763 delivery and later supplements and replacements, see Sèvres Plates and Services of the Eighteenth Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2015, Vol. II, pp. 353- 356. Possible supplements include a purchase on 24 July 1790 of '1 soucoupes à pied' at a cost of 36 livres¹ and some additional 1790 replacements service wares which include '2 soucoupes à glaces, une à Trophées et l'autre à bouquets'; with the example decorated with trophies costing 36 livres, see Peters, Ibid., 2015, Vol. II, p. 355. A likely remnant of this service, described as 'Service à Trophées', is listed in two parts in a château de Versailles inventory of January 1782 and is in the Archives Nationales (AN O¹ 3510). One part of the service is listed in the 'Office' and includes '4 soucoupes à glaces rondes' (soucoupes à pied). However, it is likely that by this time, the design had become outmoded and that breakages to items in the 'Office' were probably replaced by wares with different decoration, see Peters, Ibid., 2015, Vol. II, p. 355.

A soucoupe à pied of 1768, possibly the present lot, was sold by Sotheby's, London on 26 November 1985, lot 106. Described as 'painted with a central garland encircled by musical instruments, agricultural implements and a bow and arrow...decorated in gilding with three fruiting branches' and marked with date letter 'R'; it is possible that this is a misreading of the date letter 'P'.

1. It is unclear whether this was a supplement to the 'attribu(t)s et groiseiles' or the 'guirlandes' service.