A Vincennes fish broth bowl, cover and stand (écuelle ronde et plateau ronde) dated 1754/55

painted by Louis-Denis Armand (l'aîné) and possibly others with vignettes of strange fish among shells, rocks, streams and a fountain, alternating on the stand and cover with smaller bird vignettes, the bowl with entwined foliate scroll handles, the stand with twelve lobes, the cover with a finely modelled knop comprising a leaping fish, shells, a leek and a mushroom

Probably Sir Jacob Astley, 6th Bt, (1797-1859) later recreated Lord Hastings who is also likely to have aquired the following group of Continental porcelain for Melton Constable

excellent, with only minor wear to gilding under rim of cover, some losses to gilt rim of bowl
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The decoration on this piece is exceptionally fine and places it in a group of important 'ecuelles', all painted in exquisite detail in a pale palette. One is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (see Svend Eriksen and Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres Porcelain, 1987, no. 58 p. 238), dated circa 1750-52, and another is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (see Tamara Préaud and Antoine d'Albis, La Porcelaine de Vincennes, no. 115, p. 150), dated circa 1749-53.  Their covers both have distinctive fountain motif in one miniature landscape as found on the cover of this lot. 

An extensive discussion of the group can be found in the recently published catalogue of the Royal Collection by Geoffrey de Bellaigue in relation to another 'écuelle', a unique piece bearing the Stuart coat of arms and vignettes which, although their subjects differ, in their execution bear a striking similarity to those on the bowls mentioned above (see Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Vol. III, no. 262, pp. 933-937). The author says of the group: 'The scenes are in brilliant, cool colours with a precision worthy of the finest miniaturist'. He also notes the attribution of the elaborate crossed Ls marks which these pieces bear to Armand (l'aîné), acknowledging the research of Bernard Dragesco in this regard (op.cit. note 10, p.937). The quality of the gilding also deserves special comment, as the birds' feathers and the fishes' scales, gills and fins all picked out in gold. A sugar bowl, cover and stand in the British Museum, with fine gilding and blue ground decoration has a similar 'fleur de lys' mark above the crossed Ls, which may link it to the work of the same unidentified gilder (see Aileen Dawson, French Porcelain, no. 70, pp. 73-75).

De Bellaigue notes that the cool, pale palette used by the painter particularly  marks out the group as being early, with a date of 1748 being preferred for the Royal Collection bowl for this and other historical reasons. In this respect this lot presents an interesting anomaly. While the painting is exceptionally fine on all three items in the lot, the bowl bears Armand's crescent mark, and the date-letter B for 1754-55.  Its painting style and palette does not conform exactly to the cover and stand which bears only the foliate scrolling Ls mark. It would seem likely that the cover and stand were painted by Armand in about 1749-52, and that the bowl was painted by him a couple of years later, signed with his crescent mark and the recently introduced system of date letters. Perhaps the original bowl was broken, damaged or misfired, or the set remained incomplete for some reason. In any case, there appears to have been an interval before Armand painted the bowl to complete the set, by this time in his familiar slightly later style and using the more fully developed palette. The bowl was clearly intended to accompany this cover and stand as groups of fish-like creatures have been included in the centre of both vignettes, linking it to those used on these pieces.

According to Antoine d'Albis and Tamara Préaud, Armand had worked in Paris as a painter of lacquer 'dans le gout chinois' before starting work at Vincennes in 1745 (see Les elements de datation des porcelaines de Vincennes avant 1753, note 4', French Porcelain Society, II, 1986). For a discussion of the early style of bird painting by Armand (l'aîné), including the shallow space within which the birds are placed, and its relation to lacquer furniture painting, see Donna Corbin's remarks on a cup and saucer bearing the same elaborate crossed Ls mark in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Donna Corbin, The Vincennes Porcelain of Mrs. Morris Hawkes, French Porcelain Society Journal III, pp.278-9.)