Property of a Gentleman
A Sèvres topographical plate from the Service des Vues Suisses, 1811
Lot Closed
January 14, 03:37 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property of a Gentleman
A Sèvres topographical plate from the Service des Vues Suisses, 1811
transfer-printed in sepia and painted with a view titled VUE DU VILLAGE ET DU LAC DE BRIENZ/Canton de Berne, inscribed to the reverse, within a well gilt with a band of anthemion, the border reserved with five portrait medallions, with classical male and female portraits, in profile within pink lustred ground roundels divided by hexagrams reserved with trophies, iron-red stencilled M.Imple/de/Sevres/1811. mark, painter's mark inside footrim and incised mark
23.6 cm. diameter
The service depicts Swiss views taken from Tableaux de la Suisse, ou voyage pittoresque fait dans les XIII cantons du Corps Helvétique by the soldier and historian Béat Fidèle Antoine Jean Dominique de La Tour-Châtillon de Zurlauben (1720 - 1799) in collaboration with Jean-Benjamin de Laborde (1734 - 1794). It was published in Paris in parts from 1777 with engravings, portraits and maps and was intended to illustrated the strengths of Switzerland, both physical and cultural through its landscape, great writers, scientists and leaders. It reflected the increasing French influence in Switzerland. The present view of Lake Brienz is from an engraving by Née after Le Barbier.
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais (1781-1824) was the first child and Alexandre François Marie, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie, first wife of Napoleon and was made an official member of the imperial family in 1804 and a Prince of France. He served as Viceroy of Italy and had a distinguished military career. He was adoption by Napoleon in 1806, and in the same year married Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia of Bavaria (1788–1851), eldest daughter of Napoleon's ally, King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, who appointed him Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt.
This plate is part of a service which demonstrates the technique of outline printing and painting which was to become popular at Sèvres in this period.