A round Sèvres porcelain basket from the “Jardin du Roy” service
Weichporzellan, narzissengelber Fond "fond jonquille", farbiger Emaildekor, Vergoldung. Pierced, flaring design with smooth handles. The centre decorated with a finely painted depiction of a Peruvian barbet amidst flowering shrubs. With enamelled Sèvres mark and large conjoined JFR, impressed LoC. H 13 cm, W 28.2 cm.
1792 - 1794.
The motifs that decorate this service are derived from "L'Histoire naturelle des oiseaux" (the natural history of birds) by Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon (1707 - 1788). Buffon was one of the most famous naturalists of his era. He became director of Royal Botanical Gardens in 1739 and was raised to the rank of Baron by King Louis XV. His works were illustrated by François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800). Several services with Narcissus yellow ground and depictions of birds based on the works of Buffon are recorded in the archives at Sèvres. The first of which was delivered to the banker Grand on 6th February 1792. It comprised of 36 plates, two salad bowls, twelve compote dishes, two ice buckets and six baskets. 44 items from the service, which was made in 1791, were sold by Christie's in London on 17th November 2009 (as lot 161). A second service of this kind was delivered to a certain Mr White for Milord Milnes on 5th December 1792. It comprised of just 24 plates and five baskets. A third "Small" service with 72 plates was delivered on 3rd/4th Ventose in year II (21st/22nd February 1794) to citizen Duriau for citizen Auguste Jullien. A fourth 92-piece service was produced for citizen Empaytaz and delivered between between 17th Vendémiaire and 15th Frimaire of the year II - that is, 1794 (arch. nat. F12 1945 and F14 2162). Since this basket bears no date, it is difficult to assign it with certainty to any one particular order.
Provenance
Private collection, Copenhagen.
Literature
Numerous items from these services are today housed in museum collections, for example four ice buckets and four platters in the Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford (in: Roth/Le Corbeiller, French Eighteenth-Century Porcelain at the Wadsworth Atheneum. The Pierpont Morgan Collection, Hartford 2000, no. 145 f.) There are also numerous items in the possession of the Musée Buffon in Montbard, France.