On offer is a spectacular set of 6 plates made by Sèvres in 1847. These plates form part of the "Royal Hunting Service", a massive service commissioned by King Louis Philippe at the château de Fontainebleau in 1846 for use after large hunting parties.
Sèvres porcelain is among the most famous in the world. The French factory started in the 1740s in Vincennes, to be moved to Sèvres in the 1750 under the protection of Madame de Pompadour, the chief mistress of Louise XV and great benefactor to French art and culture.
The plates have a band of fabulous hunting scenes full of animals and meandering foliage and trailing branches, a gilt geometric pattern on the inside to the centre of each item, which has a rich gilt pattern surrounding a star. There are small reserves of iron red medaillons of trophies. The animals portrayed are fantastic dogs, boars, birds of pray, snakes, pheasants and deer, some hunting each other, others running by themselves. The decoration has very rich autumnal colours.
As King Louis Philippe had to abdicate and flee France in 1847, it is likely that the service was sold off like so many other French treasures of the time. Today many parts pop up elsewhere in the world.
The items are marked with the red Fontainebleau mark, inscribed Sèvres marks with the month and year of production, and blue and green Sèvres marks with the year 1847.
CONDITION REPORT The plates are in excellent antique condition without any repairs or crazing, and just some minimal wear as visible in the pictures. One place has a chip on the underside, see last image; there is no further damage.
Antique porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS: 24cm (9.5") diameter.
