Literature

A Sèvres Plate (assiette unie) with bleu nouveau ground, flowers with the factory mark, date letters ii for 1786, painter's mark for Boileau fils, gilder's mark for Lécot.

This plate is from a service given by Louis XVI to the Comte d’Aranda. He was the Spanish Ambassador to France between 1783 and 1787, and later Prime Minister of Spain from 28 February to 15 November 1792 who probably presented it to the King of Spain.

Preparation for the service began in 1786 and the service was a gift marking the end of his ambassadorship in 1787. The plates cost 72 livres each. It was only the second service to have a beau bleu ground, the first being the huge Louis XVI service for use at Versailles begun in 1784.

In a letter from the factory director, Regnier, to the comte d’Angivillier, dated 6 July 1787, Regnier describes the reaction of the Comte d’Aranda, who was ‘surpris de le beauté de general et en particulier de chaque piece’. It is referred to as the ‘Don Carlos’ service and said to have been in the Palace of Madrid in 1836, when it is broken up, so perhaps it was given by Aranda to King Carlos IV (ruled 1788-1806).

Pieces from this service are dispersed in many collections and can be seen in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Madrid, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in the French National Museum of Ceramics, Sèvres, in the British Royal Collection, and in the Musée Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.