52 - Porcelain dish with a coat-of-arms design, previously unseen on the Franco-Irish market (Sutton of Clonard), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1770. The small dish is decorated in the “famille rose” color palette with garlands of flowers and bears on its rim the coat of arms and crest of Thomas Sutton of Wexford (Ireland), Count of Clonard in France, Or, a double-tailed lion rampant gules standing on a lizard vert, surmounted by a crest: issuing from a ducal crown of or, a half-lion with a double tail of sinople. Dimensions: 28.5 cm x 18 cm. Very good condition.

Porcelain dish with a coat-of-arms design, previously unseen on the Franco-Irish market (Sutton of Clonard), China. Qianlong period (1736–1795), circa 1770. The small dish is decorated in the “famille rose” color palette with garlands of flowers and bears on its rim the coat of arms and crest of Thomas Sutton of Wexford (Ireland), Count of Clonard in France, Or, a double-tailed lion rampant gules standing on a lizard vert, surmounted by a crest: issuing from a ducal crown of or, a half-lion with a double tail of sinople. Dimensions: 28.5 cm x 18 cm. Very good condition. Thomas Sutton (1722–1782), a descendant of an Irish family settled in Wexford, secretly supported the interests of the Stuarts and Louis XV before settling permanently in France in 1756, at the start of the Seven Years’ War. In 1742, he had married Lady Philis Masterson of Castletown, with whom he had eleven children. A relative on his mother’s side of the merchant Antoine Walsh, he was part of the powerful Franco-Irish merchant networks of the 18th century. A wealthy shipowner, merchant, and privateer—first in Wexford and later in Bordeaux— he also owned plantations in the West Indies and extensive landholdings in France. Louis XV granted him letters patent of nobility in 1763, and three years later, Sutton acquired the barony of Lugo, near Bordeaux. As a trustee of the East India Company from 1766 to 1770, he was also a shareholder and helped finance it during the difficult years following the War of the Seven . He also invested considerable sums in colonial trade, particularly in the family’s plantations in Saint-Domingue. A financier and speculator aligned with Choiseul’s policies, he became one of the leading financial figures of the 1770s. In partnership with the banker Isaac Panchaud, he helped establish the Caisse d’escompte and, together with him, acquired in 1777 the Bas-Meudon glassworks, which would later become the Verrerie de Sèvres. Maintaining relationships with several political figures of his time, he also provided ships and capital to support the French effort in the American War of Independence. He died in Angoulême on September 13, 1782. His son, Robert Sutton de Clonard (1751–1788), a naval officer, served in the American Revolutionary War before joining the Pérouse. Having become commander of *L’Astrolabe*, he perished along with the expedition during the shipwreck at Vanikoro in 1788. This commission is unpublished. We thank Angela Howard for the information she provided regarding this Franco-Irish commission.