Literature

This is a shape of tray that was made in soft-paste porcelain from the rococo period designed in 1758. It was sold with matching teawares and it continued to be a popular shape for the following decades into the reign of Louis XVI as can be seen from this fine example. This is also an example made in hard-paste porcelain. The shape was adapted and modelled without handles to be the top of small tables in the Louis XV period.

The trophy is in the style of the specialist painter Charles Buteux, whose painter’s mark is an anchor (active 1756-82). Other pieces are known that match this tray and they have the same marks without a painter's mark.

There are various tea services of this period using the same tray created in hard-paste. One example from the Dutch Royal family collections is in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, with the date letters for 1778 [2015.25.3.6]. Another with chinoiserie decoration and the date letters for 1775 is in the collections of the Château de Versailles [V5240.1]. It could be the tray for a tea service purchased by Louis XV's daughter Madame Adélaïde that year.

Adrian Sassoon sold one more of this nature with the date letters for 1774 also with wonderful chinoiserie decoration on a hard-paste body [Sassoon # 1863].