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Lot Essay
JEAN-CLAUDE CHAMBELLAN DUPLESSIS
The form of this tureen was modeled by Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis père, an esteemed goldsmith and bronzier who migrated to Paris from Turin in the 1740s and studied under the tutelage of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, a renowned master of rococo design and metalwork. Duplessis was responsible for designing numerous shapes for the Vincennes and Sèvres manufactory, including the 'Vase Duplessis à fleurs' and the 'Saucière-lampe Duplessis'. Numerous drawings by Duplessis are still preserved in the Sèvres archives, some of which showcase molded scrolls that bear a striking resemblance to the stand on the present round tureen. Duplessis commenced his employment at the Manufacture de Vincennes in 1748, and in 1749, he received a payment of 2,652 livres for the models he supplied to the establishment (Arch. Sèvres, F1 L.4).
Though known to be in production since 1750, this particular shape of round tureen, commonly known as the 'pot à oille' or 'pot à oille ordinaire', went unnamed until an inventory of 1752. The following year, when a new round tureen design was introduced for the Louis XV service, the sovereign's new form was named the 'pot à oglio forme du Roy,' and the previous version was subsequently referred to as the 'pot à oille forme ancienne.' By the 1770s the 'ancienne' form appears to have been renamed again as 'pot à oglio Saxe', and it is this name that appeared on the Sèvres factory mold in the 19th century. The model evidently reached England during the 1750s as by 1758, the Chelsea factory had produced a tureen and stand of the same form, an example of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (533A&B-1902).
LOUIS-DENIS ARMAND L’AINÉ: 'A PRECISION WORTHY OF THE FINEST MINIATURIST'
Louis-Denis Armand, born in 1723, initially pursued a career as a painter of lacquer 'dans le goût chinois' in Paris. In 1745, however, he joined the Vincennes manufactory, from whence he continued to Sèvres, dedicating his talent as a painter of birds, animals, landscapes and figures for a period spanning over 40 years—his presence at the firm is recorded between 1745 and 1788. Interestingly, it was not until 1993 that the painter's mark of Armand l'aîné' was correctly identified by Bernard Dragesco. Armand employed a crescent-shaped mark, occasionally drawn with the addition of elaborate interlaced L's, and sometimes enclosing dots. Dragesco’s discovery was the result of meticulous research into archival payment records at Sèvres, as well as the analysis of newly discovered ornithological drawings by Armand. Previously, the mark had been mistakenly attributed to Jean-Pierre Le Doux (active 1752-1762).
The exotic and fantastic birds depicted on the present tureen, cover and stand exemplify prevailing fashions of the early 1750s, likely drawing inspiration from lacquered furniture and boiseries originating from East Asia. The precisely composed vignettes and delicate color palette in which they are executed typifies Armand's early personal painting style. Very few pieces of Vincennes porcelain with such fine painting by Armand on this large scale are known to exist. Two oval tureens ('terrine ovale') and another round tureen ('pot à oille') decorated with similarly placed vignettes of birds by Louis-Denis Armand l'Ainé are known. An oval tureen with stand is in the Musée de Sèvres, Cité de la Céramique (MNC21570 and MNC21579, see Tamara Préaud, Antoinette Faÿ-Hallé, Porcelaine de Vincennes, les origines de Sèvres, exhibition catalog, Grand Palais, Paris, 14 October 1977- 16 January 1978, p. 131, no. 389). An oval tureen without stand is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (John L. Severance Fund 1952.3), and a round tureen and stand from the former collection of the Comtesse Martine de Béhague (1869-1939) and the Ganay family was sold by Christie's, London, 4 July 2013, lot 45. The latter had been reproduced in 1929 by Paul Alfassa and Jacques Guérin, Porcelaine Française du XVIIe au milieu du XIXe siècle, n.d, pl. 51. Another round tureen and stand is in the present Rothschild collection (see lot 361]). Viviane Mesqui, curator at the Musée de Sèvres, has very recently made an exceptional discovery: the presence on the Sèvres Museum’s tureen of the signature in full letters painted behind a rock of the painter Louis-Denis Armand l'Ainé in the form of the inscription: "Armand Inven. Et pinxit". On a smaller scale, a lobed circular broth basin, cover and oval stand (écuelle à 4 pans ronds à cachet or écuelle à 4 pans ronds de M. Hébert or écuelle à 4 pans ovales) of circa 1750-1752, also modeled by Duplessis and painted with similar vignettes of birds is in the David Collection, Copenhagen, see Svend Eriksen, The David Collection, French Porcelain, Copenhagen, 1980, p. 61, no. 25. Another, decorated with vignettes of fish and birds from Powderham Castle and Seaton Delaval Hall, was sold by Sotheby's, London, 29 September 2009, lot 146. A broth basin, cover and stand of the same form but molded with fruiting vine and decorated with bird vignettes of circa 1752 from Houghton Hall, Norfolk was sold by Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 43. Another, of circa 1748, without the molding and decorated with the Stuart Royal arms and similar vignettes of birds by Armand l'aîné is in the Royal Collection. See Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, Vol. III, pp. 933-936, cat. no. 262, in which the author discusses the attribution to Armand l'aîné and lists other similar known écuelles. In his commentary, de Bellaigue describes Armand's decoration as having 'a precision worthy of the finest miniaturist'. Lastly, another round tureen and stand is in the present Rothschild auction series, though it lacks the unusual gilt fleur-de-lys seen on the present lot.
The very similar pot à oille sold in 2013 by Christie's in London has been linked to the purchase on 25 January 1753 by the Duc de Crillon of a 'pot à oglio forme ordinaire décoré d'oiseaux' at the high price of 900 livres (Arch. Sèvres, Vy1, f° 7; see Christie's, London, 4 July 2013, lot 45 and Rosalind Savill, Everyday Rococo, Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, 2021, Norwich, vol. I, p. 281, illustrated p. 285, fig. 10.11). On the far left of each entry in the Vincennes sales records is a number representing the kiln used for firing the enamel colors. The kiln number in front of the pot à oille purchased by the Duc de Crillon is number 37, giving a date of 1750 for the firing of this piece. Thus, the tureens in Sèvres, Cité de la Céramique, the Cleveland Museum and the two in the Rothschild collection were almost certainly also made in 1750.
It is conceivable that all four of these tureens may have been originally designed as a set. A drawing by Duplessis preserved in the archives of the Manufacture de Sèvres depicting a stand for a tureen of a different shape is hand-captioned: 'Plat à Piece de Boucherie pour relever Les Terrines des flancs, diferent pour Le Dessein du Plat Cotté L et M destiné à relever Les Pots à Oglie qui doivent occuper Les Bouts de la Table,' thus specifying the place occupied on the table by these tureens that worked together: the oval tureens on the sides of the table and the round tureens at the ends.
The form of this tureen was modeled by Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis père, an esteemed goldsmith and bronzier who migrated to Paris from Turin in the 1740s and studied under the tutelage of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, a renowned master of rococo design and metalwork. Duplessis was responsible for designing numerous shapes for the Vincennes and Sèvres manufactory, including the 'Vase Duplessis à fleurs' and the 'Saucière-lampe Duplessis'. Numerous drawings by Duplessis are still preserved in the Sèvres archives, some of which showcase molded scrolls that bear a striking resemblance to the stand on the present round tureen. Duplessis commenced his employment at the Manufacture de Vincennes in 1748, and in 1749, he received a payment of 2,652 livres for the models he supplied to the establishment (Arch. Sèvres, F1 L.4).
Though known to be in production since 1750, this particular shape of round tureen, commonly known as the 'pot à oille' or 'pot à oille ordinaire', went unnamed until an inventory of 1752. The following year, when a new round tureen design was introduced for the Louis XV service, the sovereign's new form was named the 'pot à oglio forme du Roy,' and the previous version was subsequently referred to as the 'pot à oille forme ancienne.' By the 1770s the 'ancienne' form appears to have been renamed again as 'pot à oglio Saxe', and it is this name that appeared on the Sèvres factory mold in the 19th century. The model evidently reached England during the 1750s as by 1758, the Chelsea factory had produced a tureen and stand of the same form, an example of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (533A&B-1902).
LOUIS-DENIS ARMAND L’AINÉ: 'A PRECISION WORTHY OF THE FINEST MINIATURIST'
Louis-Denis Armand, born in 1723, initially pursued a career as a painter of lacquer 'dans le goût chinois' in Paris. In 1745, however, he joined the Vincennes manufactory, from whence he continued to Sèvres, dedicating his talent as a painter of birds, animals, landscapes and figures for a period spanning over 40 years—his presence at the firm is recorded between 1745 and 1788. Interestingly, it was not until 1993 that the painter's mark of Armand l'aîné' was correctly identified by Bernard Dragesco. Armand employed a crescent-shaped mark, occasionally drawn with the addition of elaborate interlaced L's, and sometimes enclosing dots. Dragesco’s discovery was the result of meticulous research into archival payment records at Sèvres, as well as the analysis of newly discovered ornithological drawings by Armand. Previously, the mark had been mistakenly attributed to Jean-Pierre Le Doux (active 1752-1762).
The exotic and fantastic birds depicted on the present tureen, cover and stand exemplify prevailing fashions of the early 1750s, likely drawing inspiration from lacquered furniture and boiseries originating from East Asia. The precisely composed vignettes and delicate color palette in which they are executed typifies Armand's early personal painting style. Very few pieces of Vincennes porcelain with such fine painting by Armand on this large scale are known to exist. Two oval tureens ('terrine ovale') and another round tureen ('pot à oille') decorated with similarly placed vignettes of birds by Louis-Denis Armand l'Ainé are known. An oval tureen with stand is in the Musée de Sèvres, Cité de la Céramique (MNC21570 and MNC21579, see Tamara Préaud, Antoinette Faÿ-Hallé, Porcelaine de Vincennes, les origines de Sèvres, exhibition catalog, Grand Palais, Paris, 14 October 1977- 16 January 1978, p. 131, no. 389). An oval tureen without stand is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (John L. Severance Fund 1952.3), and a round tureen and stand from the former collection of the Comtesse Martine de Béhague (1869-1939) and the Ganay family was sold by Christie's, London, 4 July 2013, lot 45. The latter had been reproduced in 1929 by Paul Alfassa and Jacques Guérin, Porcelaine Française du XVIIe au milieu du XIXe siècle, n.d, pl. 51. Another round tureen and stand is in the present Rothschild collection (see lot 361]). Viviane Mesqui, curator at the Musée de Sèvres, has very recently made an exceptional discovery: the presence on the Sèvres Museum’s tureen of the signature in full letters painted behind a rock of the painter Louis-Denis Armand l'Ainé in the form of the inscription: "Armand Inven. Et pinxit". On a smaller scale, a lobed circular broth basin, cover and oval stand (écuelle à 4 pans ronds à cachet or écuelle à 4 pans ronds de M. Hébert or écuelle à 4 pans ovales) of circa 1750-1752, also modeled by Duplessis and painted with similar vignettes of birds is in the David Collection, Copenhagen, see Svend Eriksen, The David Collection, French Porcelain, Copenhagen, 1980, p. 61, no. 25. Another, decorated with vignettes of fish and birds from Powderham Castle and Seaton Delaval Hall, was sold by Sotheby's, London, 29 September 2009, lot 146. A broth basin, cover and stand of the same form but molded with fruiting vine and decorated with bird vignettes of circa 1752 from Houghton Hall, Norfolk was sold by Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 43. Another, of circa 1748, without the molding and decorated with the Stuart Royal arms and similar vignettes of birds by Armand l'aîné is in the Royal Collection. See Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, Vol. III, pp. 933-936, cat. no. 262, in which the author discusses the attribution to Armand l'aîné and lists other similar known écuelles. In his commentary, de Bellaigue describes Armand's decoration as having 'a precision worthy of the finest miniaturist'. Lastly, another round tureen and stand is in the present Rothschild auction series, though it lacks the unusual gilt fleur-de-lys seen on the present lot.
The very similar pot à oille sold in 2013 by Christie's in London has been linked to the purchase on 25 January 1753 by the Duc de Crillon of a 'pot à oglio forme ordinaire décoré d'oiseaux' at the high price of 900 livres (Arch. Sèvres, Vy1, f° 7; see Christie's, London, 4 July 2013, lot 45 and Rosalind Savill, Everyday Rococo, Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, 2021, Norwich, vol. I, p. 281, illustrated p. 285, fig. 10.11). On the far left of each entry in the Vincennes sales records is a number representing the kiln used for firing the enamel colors. The kiln number in front of the pot à oille purchased by the Duc de Crillon is number 37, giving a date of 1750 for the firing of this piece. Thus, the tureens in Sèvres, Cité de la Céramique, the Cleveland Museum and the two in the Rothschild collection were almost certainly also made in 1750.
It is conceivable that all four of these tureens may have been originally designed as a set. A drawing by Duplessis preserved in the archives of the Manufacture de Sèvres depicting a stand for a tureen of a different shape is hand-captioned: 'Plat à Piece de Boucherie pour relever Les Terrines des flancs, diferent pour Le Dessein du Plat Cotté L et M destiné à relever Les Pots à Oglie qui doivent occuper Les Bouts de la Table,' thus specifying the place occupied on the table by these tureens that worked together: the oval tureens on the sides of the table and the round tureens at the ends.