A Sèvres porcelain plate from the "service des pêches"
Model "assiette plate". The well filled with a finely painted scene of mackerel fishing labelled "Pêche du Maquereau.". The cavetto with sea creatures against a net pattern. The border painted with maritime trophies and gulls in flight amid coral branches. Inscribed to the reverse: "C´est la pêche à la Ligne. Les Lignes passant dans les Cosses fixées à l´extrémité de chaque perche, sont armées de plusieurs hamecons." Signed below "L. Garneray". Blue stamped conjoined PL 1836 mark, green painter's mark D.19. av.36.S. for Pierre Dérivière, gilt No 10 and M for Jean-Louis Moyez, incised marks. D 24.4 cm.
1836, after a motif by Ambroise Louis Garneray.
The Service Pêches was first presented on 1st May 1840 as a set of seven plates with differing motifs. The plates are based on compositions by Ambroise Louis Garneray (1783 - 1857), a marine painter and engraver with an eventful life. His father was a pupil of Jacques Louis David, but the young Ambroise did not remain in France for long, joining the crew of a ship bound to India when he was just 13 years old. He was later captured by the British when sailing on the Belle Poule in 1806. He returned to France after the fall of Napoleon and there began a career as a painter that eventually led him to Sèvres, where his motifs were received with great enthusiasm. He signed a contract as a porcelain painter in October 1838 for the service marine. The “Pêches” service was later extended to include maritime fishing motifs and now included compote pots and shell-shaped dishes alongside the classic plates. The service remained in production until at least 1852.
Provenance
2005 purchased from Alan Hicklin.
Literature
Wittwer (ed.) Raffinesse & Eleganz, Munich 2007, no. 142b.
Exhibitions
Raffinesse & Eleganz - Königliche Porzellane des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts aus einer amerikanischen Privatsammlung, Berlin, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Schloss Charlottenburg, 28th July - 4th November 2007
Die Sammlung Cohen. Porzellane der grossen Manufakturen 1800 - 1840. Wien, Liechtenstein Museum, 16th November 2007 - 11th February 2008
Refinement & Elegance - Early 19th-Century Royal Porcelain from an American private collection, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9th September 2008 - 19th April 2009