47 - Small porcelain dish with heraldic decoration for the French market (Montmorency-Laval), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1755—The dish is decorated in “Famille Rose” glazes, with two gold borders on the cavetto and the rim, and in the center, the coat of arms of the Montmorency-Laval family, Or, a cross Gules, charged with five shells Argent (here Azure) and flanked by sixteen alerions Azure. Dimensions: 25 cm. Very good condition.

Small porcelain dish with heraldic decoration for the French market (Montmorency-Laval), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1755—The dish is decorated in “Famille Rose” glazes, with two gold borders on the cavetto and the rim, and in the center, the coat of arms of the Montmorency-Laval family, Or, a cross Gules, charged with five shells Argent (here Azure) and flanked by sixteen alerions Azure. Dimensions: 25 cm. Very good condition. Joseph-Auguste de Montmorency-Laval (1714–1783) belonged to the Laval-Tartigny branch of the ancient House of Montmorency. The son of Gabriel de Laval, Count of Laval, and his second wife, Adélaïde de Grimoard de Beauvoir du Roure, he held the titles of Count and later Marquis of Montmorency and pursued a military career, rising to the rank of mestre de camp. In 1747, he married Marie-Louise-Angélique de Barberin de Reignac, the widow of Charles-François de Campet, Count of Saujon. In the early 1750s, Joseph-Auguste de Montmorency-Laval served as syndic of the French East India Company, representing the interests of its shareholders in that capacity. His involvement with the Company is notably documented in 1752 through his correspondence with Joseph-François Dupleix, governor-general of the French settlements in India, to whom he expressed his support. In 1758, Joseph-Auguste de Montmorency-Laval traveled personally to India, where he took part in the campaign led by the Count of Lally-Tollendal against British settlements. While in southern India, he followed the military operations conducted from Pondicherry—notably against Fort Saint-David—and later during the Tanjore expedition, before returning to France. He thus found himself directly involved in the political, commercial, and colonial networks linking France to Asia in the mid-18th century.