A Pair of Sèvres Biscuit Porcelain Roundels, 'Offering to Hymen' and 'Offering to Cupid', Late 18th Century

John Whitehead, London;

From whom acquired by Aso O. Tavitian, 21 June 2006.

Sèvres biscuit plaques of this type were destined to be mounted into furniture produced by the best cabinet makers of the day. Two Sèvres plaques of these designs were fitted into the front of a secretaire designed by Adam Weisweiler in 1785 for the use of Marie Antoinette, now at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna. A further example of the plaque with the offering to Hymen is fitted into Marie Antoinette's jewel cabinet made in 1787 by Jean-Ferdinand Schwerdfeger, now at Château de Versailles. An oval medallion with the offering to Hymen is in the British Museum, London, reg. no. 1909,1201.218, illustrated in Aileen Dawson, A Catalogue of French Porcelain in The British Museum, 1994, no. 154.