ALMOST CERTAINLY SUPPLIED BY SIMON-PHILIPPE POIRIER,THE SEVRES PLAQUES POSSIBLY PAINTED BY ANTOINE TOUSSAINT CORNAILLES, WITH DATE LETTER P FOR 1768

The model for this type of encrier executed in ormolu and Sèvres porcelain was first conceived by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier. Established 'A la couronne d'Or' in the rue Saint-Honoré, Poirier specialized in Sèvres porcelain-mounted furniture and objets d'art for the Court. Arguably the earliest prototype, with Sèvres apple-green porcelain plaques d'écritoires painted with flowers by Jean-Baptiste Tandart dated 1761, is that in the Wallace Collection, see Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain II, London, 1988, C498. Poirier sold similar examples to Madame du Barry for 360 livres, with the plaques costing 126 livres and the inkstand approximately 234 livres, as well as Maria Carolina Luisa of Naples in 1773-1774, see ibid. p. 896.

Other inkwells of this type include one sold from the Dimitri Mavrommatis Collection, Sotheby's, London, July 8, 2008, lot 53; one formerly belonging to Empress Maria Feodorovna, sold Christie's, London, June 24, 1971, lot 24; one from the collection of Monsieur Akram Ojjeh and formerly in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, sold Sotheby's Parke Bernet, Monaco, June 25-26, 1979, lot 122; and one sold most recently Sotheby’s, New York, 24 April 2013, lot 124 ($53,125).