177 - SÈVRES Royal Manufactory

SÈVRES Royal Manufactory A cup and saucer made of hard-paste porcelain, decorated with white bisque bas-relief on a light blue background and richly gilded with matte, burnished gold. The flared cup rests on a gilded, molded pedestal decorated with acanthus leaves. The upper rim, set against a matte, burnished gold background, features a frieze of a laurel wreath in relief. The high, looped handle forms a ring ending in the profile of a bearded man surrounded by foliage. The body features a central bas-relief decoration of a winged female figure, draped in the classical style, seated near a lyre and a cornucopia. Large garlands hang from a ribbon attached to a lion-headed mascaron holding a ring and a winged sphinx. On either side, two biscuit cameos depicting profile portraits of Homer and Virgil in a medallion on a gold background, surmounted by the inscriptions “Homer” and “Virgil.” The saucer features a central gilded radiating rosette surrounded by geometric motifs and three circular medallions adorned with classical heads, alternating with three lyres in bas-relief. The rim is decorated with a wide gilded frieze of rosettes and geometric motifs. Marked: Interlaced “LL,” apocryphal fleurs-de-lis, undated. Incised marks including “T” for François-Joseph Thion, turner, 1801–1848 Louis XVIII period. Cup Height (with handle): 12.5 cm – Diameter: 8.5 cm Saucer Diameter: 15.7 cm AJ Slight wear on the gilding in the center of the saucer. Although the cup’s overall silhouette is similar to models created by Hyacinthe Régnier, its shape is distinguished by its characteristic ring-shaped handle, which is said to have been designed by Louis-Honoré Boquet (1786–1860), a porcelain modeler who was later appointed a bronze engraver and assembler in 1815, a position he held until 1854. In the factory archives, under Va'22, folios 69 & 70, and Va'23, folio 89, for work carried out by Thion, the cup is referred to as the “Boquet cup with rich relief.” Related works: -A white porcelain cup and saucer in the collections of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art (formerly the Snite Museum of Art), Inv. No. 2000.008. This example is described and illustrated in the book by Gabriel P. Weisberg, Rachel Schmid, and Elizabeth Sullivan: *A Taste for Porcelain: The Virginia A. Marten Collection of Decorative Arts* (2014). Pages 91 and 92. -Public auction: Hôtel Drouot, Pescheteau Auction House, January 28, 2021, lot 240.