A Sèvres cup and saucer 1783

gobelet litron et soucoupe of the third size, decorated with a blue ground enriched with guilloche and Vitruvian scroll borders in stamped raised gold foil, the ground with scattered gold veins resembling lapis lazuli, the cup reserved with a classical scene in sepia tones depicting Hercules and Omphale, the saucer with a Herculean trophy including a pair of doves, a distaff, club and lionskin

Purchased from H.E. Backer Antiques, Feburary 1953, for £35.

There is a long fine scratch to the glaze on the exterior of the saucer.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The application of gold foil was a technique associated with jewelled enamelling perfected around 1780 by the enameller Joseph Coteau.  The stamped decoration was achieved by using steel dies provided for the factory by the Parisian engraver Jean-Pascal Le Guay from 1780-82.  The original source for the scene of Hercules and Omphale is probably a painting by François Lemoyne of 1724, now in the Louvre.  According to classical mythology, in order to expiate a crime, the great hero Hercules entered the service of Omphale, Queen of Lydia.  He submitted himself to all the tasks she set him, including as shown here, spinning flax or wool.  The Queen fell in love with him and they were subsequently married.  This type of gilded ground decoration resembling hardstone was extremely fashionable in the period 1778-83, see Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of  Her Majesty the Queen, 2009, Vol. II, p. 443, and nos. 102 and 104 for vases with the same ground.