A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner - image-1
A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner - image-2
A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner - image-1A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner - image-2

Lot 146 Dα

A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner

Auction 1128 - overview Berlin
06.04.2019, 17:00 - The Twinight Collection II
Estimate: 10.000 € - 15.000 €

A Sèvres porcelain teapot and sugar box from the "fond d´or iconographique français" déjeuner

"Théière Asselin" and "pot à sucre volute" models. The bodies both painted with two fine portraits on dark backgrounds in etched surrounds suspending arabesques en grisaille. The portrait of Buffon signed "Georget". Various incised marks. The teapot handle reattached. H 20.5 and 15.2 cm.
Probably 1814 - 24, painted by Jean Georget.

The portraits on the teapot depict Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707 - 1788) and Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694 - 1778), the sugar pot Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778). All persons were important figures during the Enlightenment age.
Sèvres began with the production of the “déjeuner fond d´or” service in 1808. It was delivered along with four other déjeuners on 24th December 1813: One with "fleurs par Van Os et Riocreux" for Princess Pauline Bonaparte, one with "Copies des Madones par Mme Jaquotot" for Duchess Montebello, a lady in waiting of Empress Marie-Louise, one with "Jeux d´amours" for the Vicereine of Italy, and one with "Paysages, Vues des environs de Sèvres" for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples.
Jean Georget (circa 1761/62 - 1823) is thought to have painted all the portraits in this service. He began studying at the Academy in 1778 and was an unofficial pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He simultaneously pursued a career as a singer and was active in the Théâtre-Français. His miniatures were exhibited at the Salons of 1796 and 1798. He was recruited as a figure painter by the Sèvres manufactory in 1802 where, in order to receive a company pension, he had to confirm in writing that he worked only for Sèvres and for no other manufactory.

Provenance

Acquired in 2008 from Dragesco-Cramoisan, Paris.

Literature

For more on Jean Georget cf. Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature 1650 - 1850, Paris 2008, p. 255 f.
For more on the commission of this service cf.: Napoléon & Sèvres, Paris 2016, p. 330 ff.