Factory marks in blue.

This very fine plate comes from a hugely significant gift of a lavish Sèvres porcelain dinner service from King the Louis XV of France to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria costing the immense sum of 48,981 livres 10 sols.  This was after the conclusion in May 1756 of a military alliance which also committed the Empress’ infant daughter Marie-Antoinette to be married to Louis XV’s grandson the future Louis XVI.

There were 74 plates in the original gift costing 72 livres each which is outstandingly high for that period.  Much of the service survives in the collection of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, although interestingly none of the plates are still in that collection.

Plates from this service are in various collections including the Musée du Louvre, Paris;  the French National Museum of Ceramics at Sèvres;  the Kunstindustriet Museum, Copenhagen.  Examples do not come to the art market very often.