Saucer
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Category
Ceramics
Date
1788
Materials
Porcelain and gilt
Measurements
34 mm (H); 133 mm (Dia)
Place of origin
Sèvres
Order this imageCollection
Powis Castle and Garden, Powys
NT 1181042.6
Summary
Saucer (soucoupe), painted by Jacques-Francois-Louis Laroche at the Sèvres factory, France, 1788. Green ground with polychrome reserves of landscapes and flowers; pale blue background decorated ith garlands of flowers and buildings in shaped panels. Both cup and saucer have pink and gold bands. Paired with cup (gobelet litron) (NT 1181042.5). Part of a group of 12 hard and soft paste cups and saucers, painted with polychrome decoration in different colours, presented to Tipu Sultan of Mysuru in 1788 by Louis XVI of France.
Full description
Saucer, part of a collection of 12 hard and soft paste cups and saucers, painted with polychrome decoration in different colours, Sevres 1776-1788. Cup and saucer (gobelet at soucoupe 'litron'). Green ground with polychrome reserves of landscapes and flowers; pale blue background decorated ith garlands of flowers and buildings in shaped panels. Both cup and saucer have pink and gold bands. Mark 'LL' interlaced and containing 'KK' for 1788, mark of Jean-Jacques Pierre (jeune) (op. 1758-1800, painter). See 'Treasures from India' catalogue pg.141. In hopes of establishing a trade relationship with France, the Mysore embassy visited Sèvres in 1788 and received dozens of custom pieces as gifts. Certain designs, including porcelain spittoons and hookahs, do not survive, but among those that did is this composite set of twelve specially ordered cups and saucers, each painted in a distinct floral pattern. The manufactory made certain that its decoration was culturally sensitive: notes in Sèvres’s archives stipulate that the sultan be given wares ‘with flowers, without either human or animal figures’ in keeping with the Islamic prohibition against human images. The set did not remain in Mysore long; following the plundering of Tipu Sultan’s palace in 1799, it was acquired by Lord and Lady Clive and taken by them to Powis Castle in Wales.Text adapted from Visitors to Versailles: From Louis XIV to the French Revolution (exh. cat.), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018, p. 176.
Provenance
Brought to Powis Castle from Walcot Hall in 1930. Accepted by HM Treasury on 21st March, 1963 in lieu of tax, placed on long term loan to the National Trust, then gifted to National Trust on 26th March 1991.
Marks and inscriptions
Mark 'LL' interlaced and containing 'KK' for 1788, mark of Jean-Jacques Pierre (jeune) (op. 1758-1800, painter).
Makers and roles
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory , potter
Exhibition history
Visitors to Versailles (1682-1789), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2017 - 2018 Visitors to Versailles (1682-1789), Palace of Versailles, France, 2017 - 2018
References
Archer, Rowell and Skelton 1987 Mildred Archer, Christopher Rowell, and Robert Skelton, Treasures from India: The Clive Collection at Powis Castle, London, 1987 2004 Satyanarayana: A Satyanarayana ‘Review: The Mysore Sultans. State and Diplomacy under Tipu Sultan: Documents and Essays by Irfan Habib’ Economic and Political Weekly 39 24 (2004) 2019 Dalrymple: W Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, Bloomsbury 2019 2018 Finn: Margot Finn, ‘Material Turns in British History I: Loot’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 28, December 2018 Kisluk-Grosheide 2018: Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide and Bertrand Rondot (eds.), Visitors to Versailles: From Louis XIV to the French Revolution (exh. cat.), New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven and London:Yale University Press, 2018.