CIRCA 1783, INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTER FF, VARIOUS PAINTERS’ MARKS

These plates belong to a service ordered by Jean-Joseph de Laborde, vidame of Chartres and seigneur de la Ferté-Vidame and the baronnies of Méréville in Beauce and of Laborde in Bourgogne. This Spanish-born wealthy merchant and financier from Bayonne later became banquier de la Cour of King Louis XV and from June 1759 a fermier-général. Laborde maintained strong business connections with the country of his birth and provided finance for the French government during and after the Seven Years War, including negotiating a loan from Ferdinand VI, King of Spain in 1758. Laborde had bought a large green-ground service from the Sévres factory in 1761, and the 1783 service, which included 41 plates and 36 soup plates at 33 livres each, was likely a supplement. Fifteen soup plates from the de Laborde service were sold by Sotheby’s, Monaco, 27 June 1984, lot 1537. A seau à liqueur was sold Christie's, Paris, 14 December 2004, lot 82.