Two Soft-Paste Sèvres Porcelain Trays probably from Louis XV’s Fontainbleau service, 1763
With the factory mark in blue enclosing the date letter K for 1763.
Louis XV’s special service with monochome pink decoration made for his use at the Château of Fontainebleau was first supplied through the Parisian marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux in 1758 [Peters 58-1].Peters has noted that by 1782 much of this service was in household use at the Château of Versailles.
Supplements were supplied from 1763, directly to the King [Peters 63-2].The original delivery included no plateaux Bourets of this shape,but there were four in the 1763 delivery and these two have the date letter for that year.They were sold to the King for 24 livres each, the same price as a plate in that year.
More plateux Bourets were supplied for this service in subsequent years – 2 in 1768; 2 in 1769; 4 in 1770; 1 in 1773; 2 in 1778
None of dated 1763 form part of the substantial group of pieces now at Fontainebleau, though there are examples from later supplements including one dated 1770 which has the pattern of interlaced Ls, the King’s symbol, in the decorative scheme.This is a feature of much but not all of the service.
There are two un-dated examples of this shape in a British private collection.
The plateau Bouret was sometimes used as the tray for a tea service, but because there were several in this service, they were surely intended for use presenting food at the table.