SÈVRES - PORCELAIN PLATE FROM THE MARLY D'OR SERVICE - Lot 258

SÈVRES - PORCELAIN PLATE FROM THE MARLY D'OR SERVICE with polychrome decoration in the center of two lovers in a landscape, one sharpening a bow with a blade, the other holding one of his fingers to the tip of an arrow, the gold-backed wing decorated with trellis motifs burnished to effect. Signed in the landscape: victoire jaquotot. Marked: M. Imple de Sevres 7. Empire period, 1807. D.: 23.5 cm. (Some wear). Provenance: Presented by the Emperor to Armand Augustin, Marquis de Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicence (1773-1827), French Ambassador to Russia, December 31, 1807. From 1805 onwards, the Sèvres manufactory produced marly d'or plates decorated in the center with a wide variety of subjects: scenes from ancient or contemporary history, flowers, genre scenes, landscapes, cameos. Or voaltiles. These plates were not designed to form a single service. They may have been offered or sold individually (see, for example, the plate decorated with one of the Emperor's horses, the Selim, offered by Napoleon to Marshal Duroc in 1809, sold by Etude Osenat on July 7, 2024, lot 202), or in groups to form a small service. On December 4, 1809, Napoleon made a porcelain present to King Friedrich August 1st of Saxony comprising seven vases, a cabaret, 15 cookie figures including 12 Grands Hommes and 24 assiettes à marly d'or. In 1812, the Emperor also gave a marly d'or service to Prince Schwarzenberg, Austrian ambassador. On December 31, 1807, the Emperor also presented Armand Augustin, marquis de Caulaincourt, duc de Vicence (1773-1827), French ambassador to the Tsar in Russia between 1807 and 1811, with a service including 84 marly d'or plates. This service appears in the Sèvres Manufacture credit sales register preserved in the archives, described as follows: Livré à son Excellence le Ministre des Relations Extérieures pour S. E. Mr l'Ambassadeur de France près l'Empereur de Russie, le 31 décembremb. Service Marly d'or bruni à l'effet Sujets de figures, Paysages & fleurs &.". (Arch. M.N.S, Vbb2, f° 77-78) The two plates shown here are from this service. Although they are not described in the credit sales register, the number in the margin makes it possible to identify them from the painters' work registers and the entries in the Sèvres factory sales store. The plate painted by Marie-Victoire Jaquot appears in the Journal des Travaux of 1807, designated as part of the marli d'or service and described as "deux amours fourbissant leurs armes". The appraisal sheet dated December 14, 1807 mentions that the price was 200 francs, and it entered the sales store on the same day under the designation "Ass. Marly d'or, figures de Mde Jaquot" and bore the number 210-30 (Arch. M.N.S., Pb1, appraisal December 14, 18078 and Vu, f° 50), see Anne Lajoix, Marie-Victoire Jaquotot, 1772-1855, peintre sur porcelaine, 2006, ps. 48, p. 74. The painter Christophe Caron painted three plates with bird decorations at the same time, and all three appear among the plates delivered to Caulincourt. These two plates have remained together since the imperial present of 1807. Other plates with gold marli are now in the Kuskuvo Palace Museum in Moscow.