318 - PAIR OF PLATES FROM THE TRIANON CASTLE SERVICE

PAIR OF PLATES FROM THE TRIANON CASTLE SERVICE A pair of calibrated hard-paste porcelain plates, the rim decorated with five cartouches of lifelike painted flowers, alternating with Oriental-style arabesque motifs in brilliant gold; the center of the plate features a gilded rosette, adorned in the center with a bouquet of polychrome roses. Gold fillet at the foot. A chip along the rim; slight wear to the gold. One plate is from the Royal Sèvres Manufactory, dating from the July Monarchy period, 1847. Decorative mark with a monogrammed LP stamp and dated (18)47 in green; mark featuring the king’s initials LP intertwined beneath a royal crown and marked “Sèvres - 1847” in blue; mark of the Château de Trianon in red. The second piece is from the Imperial Sèvres Manufactory, circa 1854. Manufacturer’s mark in a chrome-green cartouche reading “S.54.” Diameter: 24.5 cm. Provenance Table service for King Louis-Philippe at the Château de Grand Trianon (Versailles). History The ceremonial table service for the Grand Trianon was commissioned late in the reign of Louis-Philippe, as it was requested by a letter from the King dated February 12, 1847. It is described in the Manufactory’s records as having a “white background, gold-printed ornamentation, and polychrome floral motifs on the rim and in the center of the pieces” and was to comprise a total of 380 plates. It is the most lavishly gilded of the services commissioned by Louis-Philippe. A sample plate was delivered to the sovereign on April 3 of that same year; the remaining 379, scheduled for delivery on July 13, 1848, were never delivered, as the King abdicated on February 24. Following the fall of the July Monarchy, the plates were finally delivered to the Ministry of the Interior in September 1850 (180 plates) and to the Ministry of Agriculture in December 1850 (120 plates). The 120 plates from the Ministry of Agriculture were eventually transferred in 1852 to the household of the Emperor (Napoleon III). Recently, 48 plates were purchased through preemption on September 25, 2020, at Daguerre, and are now held by the National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon; they are currently on display at the Grand Trianon (inv. V 6143 and V 2020.22). Bibliography B. Delcourte and B. Sarrazin, *Le Grand Trianon*, RMN-Grand-Palais-Château de Versailles, 2023, pp. 100–101.