213 - Hard-paste porcelain plate,

Hard-paste porcelain plate, with a Nankin-style base featuring a polychrome frieze of amomum, a wide gold border on either side, the center of the plate adorned with a rosette decorated in the same style, and a frieze of laurel leaves around the rim. Minor wear on the gold. Imperial Sèvres Manufactory, 1807. Red stamp mark partially obliterated: “(M(anufacture) imp(ria)le) / de Sèvres / (180)7”. Diameter: 23.5 cm. History One of the 72 plates from the dessert service, described as having a “Nanking background with a colored amomum frieze on the background,” purchased on December 31, 1807, by M. de Cramayel, Master of Ceremonies, Ambassador Introducer on the occasion of the marriage of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, and Catherine of Württemberg. In addition to the 72 dinner plates, the set includes 8 stemmed fruit bowls, 8 fluted fruit bowls, 2 sugar bowls, 2 strawberry bowls, 2 elephant-head ice buckets, and 2 “Jasmin” baskets, for a total of 2,336 francs (Arch. Sèvres, Vbb2, 79v & Vy18, 29v). The removal of the imperial mark suggests that this service likely remained in an imperial residence, perhaps at the Tuileries, and was later reused under Louis XVIII. Bibliography Camille Leprince, ed., Napoleon I & Sèvres: The Art of Porcelain in the Service of the Empire, Feu et Talent series, Paris, 2016, p. 268.