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Plate [3 of 4]

Maker (French, active from 1756 to the present)
Additional Title(s)
  • Assiette à Petites Palmes
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
Dateca. 1758
Mediumsoft-paste porcelain, overglaze pink ground color, polychrome enamel decoration, gilding
Dimensions1 x 10 1/8 in. (2.5 x 25.7 cm.)
DescriptionCircular plate with pink ground featuring a central reserve of a forest and three kidney-shaped floral reserves around the edge of the plate.
Signed
InscribedEach plate is painted underneath, in blue enamel, with the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory and, in pink enamel, with a solid six-pointed star, possibly the mark of the craftsman who applied the ground color. Each of three plates (27.54a, 27.55a, 27.55b) is incised, in the bisque, with the scrolled letter E.1 One plate (27.54b) is incised underneath with an indistinguishable mark. Duveen labels: 27.54a: 27615 / 5; 27.54b, 27.55a, 27.55b: 27615 / 4
MarkingsEach plate is painted underneath, in blue enamel, with the crossed Ls of the Sèvres manufactory and, in pink enamel, with a solid six-pointed star, possibly the mark of the craftsman who applied the ground color. Each of three plates (27.54a, 27.55a, 27.55b) is incised, in the bisque, with the scrolled letter E.1 One plate (27.54b) is incised underneath with an indistinguishable mark. Duveen labels: 27.54a: 27615 / 5; 27.54b, 27.55a, 27.55b: 27615 / 4
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.
Label TextThese four plates were part of a pink-ground service decorated with hunting scenes that included a wine bottle cooler (seau à demi-bouteille) also in the Huntington collection. The plates have been identified as four of the twelve plates described for this service in the Sèvres sales record as "Assiettes rozes attributes de Chasse" for 60 livres each. See cat. 103 for background information on this service.
Each plate is decorated around the rim with an overglaze pink ground color and three shaped oval white reserves painted in polychrome with sprays of flowers. The floral reserves are edged with a tooled gilded pattern of scrolls and flowers. A slightly raised molded pattern around the outer edge of each plate is obscured by the painted and gilded decoration. The center of each plate is painted in polychrome with figures of huntsmen holding rifles in landscapes (fig. 103). Each scene depicts similar figures in a different forest setting: a group of three or four blue-coated figures and dogs with a single figure in a lighter colored coat and a blue sash across his chest. Two further huntsmen are represented in the distance of each scene.
None of the plates has a decorator's mark and it has not been possible to attribute the painting of the landscapes on them firmly to one artist. They are finely painted with a subtle variety of colors to give depth to the scenes and are based on the classic formula of brown tones in the foreground, green tones for the middle ground, and blue or gray tones for the distance. The flower painting is not particularly distinguished and would have been done by one or more different decorators. Where the gilding has not been worn by use, the tooling to give definition to the gilt flowers is finely achieved.

Status
On view
Object number27.55A
Plate [4 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
ca. 1758
Object number: 27.55B
Plate [1 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
ca. 1758
Object number: 27.54A
Plate [2 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
ca. 1758
Object number: 27.54B
Plate [3 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1774-1775
Object number: 27.79
Plate [1 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1774-1775
Object number: 27.58
Plate [2 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1774-1775
Object number: 27.59
Plate [4 of 4]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1774-1775
Object number: 27.80
Tray
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1759
Object number: 27.53A
Tray
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1757
Object number: 27.74
Tray [1 of 2]
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1757
Object number: 27.56
Wine Bottle Cooler
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
ca. 1775
Object number: 27.51
Wine Bottle Cooler
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1758
Object number: 27.52