The present lot is from the service acquired by Jeanne (Bécu) Gomard de Vaubernier, Comtesse Du Barry, who was Louis XV's last mistress, until his death on 10 May 1774. The service was ordered in 1770 and noted in the Sales Registers on 29 August 1771, where the decoration was described as ‘petits vases et guirlandes’. Louis XV gifted Madame du Barry the château de Louveciennes in 1769 and this service was probably intended for use there. The service comprised 322 pieces, including 145 assiettes différentes at a cost of 42 livres each. A project drawing for the design of the decoration survives, annotated 'Projet d’un service pour être execute à Sève pour Mde du Barry, 1770' and 'à Madame, le Comtesse du Barry en son hotel à Paris'.¹ It was the first Sèvres service to include a monogram and neoclassical motifs. The service was still in the possession of Madame du Barry at the time of her execution during the Revolution on 8 December 1794. For a full discussion of this service and 19th century Paris porcelain additions, see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the Eighteenth Century, Little Berkhamsted, 2015, Vol. II, pp. 471-474. A substantial part of the service from the property of the late Earl of Lonsdale, was sold at Christie's,13-18 June 1887, see lots 356 and lots 531-563. Another significant part was sold at Christie's, 30 October 1947, lot 52.

Jean-Baptiste Tandart (l'aîné) was a painter of flowers at Sèvres from 1754 to 1800.



1. This is in the Bibliothèque de l’Institute, Paris, and it is attributed to Augustin de Saint-Aubin, an illustrator and engraver.