Red factory mark under crown for hard paste enclosing the date-letters bb for 1779; painter’s mark L for Louis-François Lécot (active at Sèvres 1763-65 & 1772-1802); gilder’s mark HP for Henri Prévost (active at Sèvres 1757-97).

The French royal family’s taste for chinoiseries in the 1770s may have derived from Madame du Barry, who was among the early purchasers of such pieces from Sèvres. At this period the Royal Family, including Louis XV’s daughters, purchased a number of white ground chinoiserie-decorated tea services. This piece may well derive from one of these. At least two services of this period are in the collection of the Museum of the Château of Versailles.

Rebecca Shaw has noted that this jug may well come from a ‘déjeuner Bolvry’ being named after its’ tray shape, a plateau Bolvry, decorated with chinoiseries by Lécot recorded in the kiln registers for painted decoration fired on 21st November 1779. Lécot was creating this style of decoration from at least 1777 as it is his work on the tea service with chinoiserie marine scenes in The Wallace Collection, London.