Fourteen plates and an oval serving dish from an important Sèvres porcelain 'Beau bleu' armorial and ornithological dinner service, 1792-1793

each piece finely painted, after François Nicolas Martinet, the centre with a colourful bird subject in landscape, the dark blue-ground border richly decorated with tooled gilt foliate scrollwork enclosing flowerheads, suspending floral garlands and reserved with gilt-edged oval panels, each painted with further birds specimens and one with the arms of Sudell in tooled gilding, pendent from a flower garland, script ornithological identifications, interlaced L's in blue and date letters pp for 1792 to most pieces, the oval platter with crowned interlaced L’s and incised 14, various painters' and gilders' marks in blue enamel or gilding, and various incised marks.

Comprising: fourteen plates (‘assiettes unies'): painters’ marks for Philippe Castel, Pierre-Joseph-André Vielliard, Étienne Evans, Charles-Théodore Buteux, Edme-François or Genévieve-Louise Bouillat and (probably) François-Marie Barrat and gilders’ marks for Henri-Martin Prévost, Henry-François Vincent and Étienne-Henry Le Guay; An hard-paste oval serving platter (‘plat ovale, 14 pouces’): painter’s mark (probably) for François-Marie Barrat and gilder’s mark for Henri-Martin Prévost

(15)

The plates: diam. 9 ½ in, diam. 24 cm.; The oval platter: length. 15 ¼ in, long. 38, 5 cm