Monday, 9 March 2015

Sèvres: Madame du Barry's Service of 1774

Madame du Barry followed her predecessor in her taste for Sèvres porcelain. In 1774 she commissioned a new service to be delivered at Versailles. Given the date is quite possible that this was the last service delivered to the royal mistress before her royal lover died.


Detail of tea table with Sèvres porcelain plaques (1774), made for Madame du Barry (1743–1793) Martin Carlin, cabinetmaker; Charles-Nicolas Dodin painter.  Oak, mahogany, and purple wood veneer; gilt bronze mounts; soft-paste porcelain, 32 5/16 x 31 1/2 inches. Musée du Louvre. Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY /Eric Lessing.

The blue chosen matches that of a service delivered to Louis XV 23 years earlier, in 1751. Actually, Madame du Barry had commissioned another blue service in 1770 with a different design.

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