A Vincennes Bleu Céleste Plein Porcelain Sugar Bowl and Cover (Pot à Sucre 'à Cerceau' ou 'à Cuvier', 1ère Grandeur)

Circa 1754

bearing blue interlaced Ls enclosing date letter A, incised 3; of flaring cylindrical form, the conforming cover with bracket finial, the finial and molded edges gilt, with gilt dentil rims.

Height 4 1/2 x width 5 inches.

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

Dragesco-Cramoisan, Paris, June 1996 (purchased at the International Ceramics Fair, London)

Note:

The Sèvres archive retains a drawing dated 19 February 1753 that corresponds to the present Vincennes form, describing it as an accompaniment to both a gobelet 'à cuvier' and a gobelet 'à cerceau' (2011.3.249.1, reproduced here). A simplified variant without the molded banding also exists, designed to pair with a gobelet à la reine.

The present bleu céleste plein pot à sucre 'à cerceaux’, made the following year (1754), is covered in the first ground color produced by the factory, famously used for the first service made for King Louis XV of France, patron of the factory. It displays the lovely ‘cloudy’ yet translucent quality for which early bleu celéste is so prized.

Of the 42 sugar bowls of this rare model recorded, the present lot and the pot exhibited at the Grand Palais in a seminal exhibition of Vincennes porcelain held October 1977- January 1978 would appear to be the only survivors. Later sold in The Arts of France, Christie's, New York, 16 November 2000, lot 113, this second pot, decorated with loose bouquets (fleurs détachées) between blue-line-and-gilt-dash banding, is an example of one of the least expensive versions—flower-decorated examples were priced at 18 livres. The present lot is an example of the most expensive version, priced at 54 livres for a sugar bowl covered overall with a turquoise sky blue (bleu céleste plein) ground. Cf. Porcelaines de Vincennes, les origins de Sèvres, Exhibition Catalogue, Grand Palais, 14 October 1977-16 January 1978, no. 184.

Photo Credit: © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

A Vincennes Bleu Céleste Plein Porcelain Sugar Bowl and Cover (Pot à Sucre 'à Cerceau' ou 'à Cuvier', 1ère Grandeur)

A Vincennes Bleu Céleste Plein Porcelain Sugar Bowl and Cover (Pot à Sucre 'à Cerceau' ou 'à Cuvier', 1ère Grandeur)