This shape was made at Sèvres for people with wobbly hands – the tall cup settles into a deeply socketed saucer. The shape is called a gobelet enfoncé in the factory’s archives but what is unusual about these is that one has straight sides – they are generally tapered. These are not a pair though and they were painted by the same painter – Louis-Jean Thévenet père and made a year apart from each other.

These come from the Hillingdon Heirlooms.