137 - SÈVRES

SÈVRES Soft-paste porcelain hand-held candlestick with polychrome decoration known as a “colorful frieze,” consisting of reserved areas in the shape of two intertwined Ls and two facing Cs on a gold-sand-textured background against a purple and white background, framed by garlands of flowers and blue and red ribbons, the rim and handle feature a blue ground adorned with gold brick motifs and ovals on a purple background; the bowl is decorated with a garland of flowers held in place by gold rings between blue and purple-ground braids. Marked: interlaced LLs, letter-date L for 1764, painter’s mark Guillaume Noël. 18th century, 1764. (Excellent condition, minimal wear to the gilding on the rim.) Height: 7 cm; Length: 16 cm An example of the same shape with a sky-blue background, dated 1761, is held in the Frick Collection in New York and reproduced by Marcelle Brunet and Tamara Préaud, *Sèvres: From Its Origins to the Present Day*, Fribourg, 1978, p. 157, no. 100 f, and Marcelle Brunet, *Porcelains in the Frick Collection*, New York, 1974, pp. 243–245. A handheld candlestick with a green ribbon and garlands of flowers, dated 1758, was sold by Christie’s in Monaco on June 16, 1990 (Lot 93), another with a colored frieze, also dated 1765, was part of the former Flahaut Collection and later the John Shearer Collection, sold by Christie’s in London on November 25, 2014, lot 32. A specimen with a “nouveau” blue background, dated 1767, was offered at Bonhams in London on December 6, 2023, Lot 153. The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore holds a handheld candlestick of this same shape, dated 1758, decorated with flowers in shades of blue. The factory’s sales records list ten candlesticks sold in 1764 at prices ranging from 9 pounds for unglazed models sold to the Dauphin to 48 pounds sold to the merchants Poirier and Dulac. Models described as having gold fillets were sold for 24 livres. Minister Bertin purchased a candlestick for 36 livres in December 1764 at Versailles; another, sold for 42 livres, went to an anonymous buyer, also at Versailles. In 1765, the manufactory sold about thirty candlesticks; the highest price, 54 livres, was paid for a piece purchased by Poirier in the second half of 1765. The Duke of Praslin and the Countess of Brionne each purchased a candlestick for 48 livres at the Versailles sales in December 1765 (Arch. Sèvres, Vy4, f° 117). The register of extraordinary works reveals that the painter Guillaume Noël was paid in 1764 for three candlesticks, receiving 5 livres for each (Arch. Sèvres, series F 1764). Expert: Cyrille FROISSART