This tureen and cover (pot à oile) is one of a set of four delivered to Louis XVI at Versailles in 1775.  They are from a dinner service with ‘roses et feuillage‘ decoration (roses and leaves) ordered by Louis XV but not delivered until well-after his death in May 1774.  Two of the other tureens, covers and stands are in the collection of the Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire.

The base of the tureen displays elaborate factory marks in yellow under a crown for hard-paste.  Painter’s mark L.B. for Jean-Nicolas Le Bel (active 1765-93) and the gilder’s mark 2000 for Henry-François Vincent (active 1753-1806).

Apparently this service was in daily use at Versailles and it appears to have been taken with Louis XVI in 1789 to the Tuileries Palace, Paris, for his continued use there.  Other services of this pattern were sold to Madame du Barry in 1773 and to the Comte d’Artois in 1779 but they did not include pieces of this shape.