Lot n° 234
Estimation :
800 - 1200
EUR
SÈVRES
A soft porcelain rim plate with polychrome... - Lot 234 - Pescheteau-Badin
SÈVRES
A soft porcelain rim plate with polychrome decoration in the center of flower sowing and on the wing of pansies in medallions surrounded by gold pearls in a surround of garlands of flowers held by knotted ribbons, row of gold pearls on the edge.
Marked in blue: LL interlaced, letter-date GG for 1784, mark of the painter Marie-Marguerite-Gabriel Le Bel,
gold mark of the gilder Etienne-Henry Le Guay.
18th century, 1784.
D. 23,7 cm.
A chip on the heel.
This plate is a supplement of 1784 of the service whose decoration is described Garlands and flowers, delivered to the Marquis Spinola, ambassador of the Republic of Genoa in France on August 20, 1781. Accompanied by a cabaret completed in 1784, it comprised 337 pieces for a total price of 13,243 livres. A drawing of the plate appears under number 64 in the price book of the Sèvres factory, preserved in the archives.
According to Anne Perrin Khelissa, the purchase of the Sèvres porcelain service by the Marquis Spinola in 1781 was one of the manifestations of his desire to integrate into the French aristocracy. He himself came from the Genoese ruling class, his mother born Pallavicini, and through his marriage to Paola Durazzo, daughter of Doge Marcello, and in business, was linked to this rich family. Cristoforo Spinola lost his first wife in January 1773, one month after his arrival in Paris. He remarried in June 1780 to Gabrielle Marguerite de Lévis, daughter of François Gaston, Duke of Lévis. The expenses he incurred to ensure a new lifestyle that this union implied were undoubtedly one of the reasons for the sale of his palace in Genoa in 1779.
The vast majority of the Sèvres service was sold, divided in London in 1910 (Christie's, London, 3 May 1910, lots 112-114). In 1999, part of the service was again sold in London (Christie's, 8 November 1999, lot 134) and more recently in Paris (Sotheby's, Paris, 28 November 2016, lot 139).
- Anne Perrine Khelissa, "Présents et achats de porcelaines de Sèvres pour les Spinola", Revue Sèvres, 2006, n° 15, pp. 59-70
- Anne Perrine Khelissa, "Cristoforo Spinola, a Genoese aristocrat in Paris from the end of the reign of Louis XV to the Terror. Relations artistiques, diplomatie et brassage d'affaires entre Gênes et la France", Revue d'Histoire de l'Art de l'Académie de France à Rome, 2008, pp. 119-144
- David Peters, Sèvres plates and services of the 18th century, 2015, vol. III, 81-8, pp. 651-652
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