porcelain, the body with lobed gilt rim, the lip with colourfully painted laurel garlands with red fruit, 3 reserves with light purple painted roses with green sprigs of leaves, 3 reserves with blue cornflowers and yellow flowers with green sprigs of leaves framed by bright and matte gold borders, 3 medallions with pansy and green sprigs of leaves framed by gold chains, 3 large medallions with large purple rose framed by bright and matte gold rings and light blue pearl necklaces, the well with rose and cornflower bouquet framed by green laurel branches with red fruit and gold leaves, diameter 24 cm, Sèvres, France, blue mark with blue and gold lettering, painted by Barrat l’oncle, 1769–1791, whose speciality are garlands and flowers, or by Le Bel jeune, 1774–1793, specialising in garlands and bushes. (Ru)

Lit.:
'Marie-Antoinette', catalogue, Grand Palais, Paris 2008, p 231, nos 163a to I, a-k;

This plate is from the porcelain service delivered to Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1781, known as 'Cartels en perles, panneaux en Roses et Barbeaux'. It originally consisted of 233 pieces and cost 14,505 livres. 26 painters (one third of the painters employed at the Sèvres Manufactory) were engaged in the execution of this royal commission. 102 of the researched parts of the service are now at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. The estate was bequeathed to the National Trust by James Armand de Rothschild in 1957. The parts of the service are on display there on loan from the Rothschild Family Trust. Only 16 forms of this service are known to date, mainly plates, with the exception of a salad bowl which is preserved in the Palace of Versailles. On 9 April 2019, a plate with the same decoration was sold at Sotheby’s in Paris. The present piece was probably a gift from a private collector in recognition of the services of Alain Gruber.