Sevres - Important Porcelain Mounted Covered Cup With Gallant Subject, Circa 1880

Imposing Covered Cup on porcelain pedestal with Beau Bleu de Sèvres background enhanced with fine gold with polychrome decorations reserved in cartels of a gallant scene and a landscape perspective. The interior decorated on a white background enamelled with "natural" floral motifs arranged in a crown or foliage garland. Elegant frame in finely chiseled and gilded bronze, Louis XVI inspiration. Fixed handles in Greek windings, pine cone fret. The porcelain piece is based on a circular base with projections highlighted with a ribbon rush and acanthus foliage. One of the painted cartels signed; blue mark on the back of the lid. Quality work from the second half of the 19th century. To go beyond the summary description: Coated over its entire body in a Bleu de four called Beau Beau de Sèvres enhanced with listels, florets, acanthus foliage, flowering stems, seedlings and beaded mesh Delicately painted with fine gold, this imposing covered porcelain bowl is illuminated on its domed lid by two oblong cartels forming a setting for polychrome small plaques which are by turns playful and dreamlike. Surrounded by gold motifs of palm leaves and palmettes, leafy scrolls and stems enriched with a mesh with alternating pearls of flowers or rushes, one shows an ingenuous gallant scene. After some country entertainment (flower basket on the ground), a couple of "carefree" bewigged, powdered, dressed in aristocratic toilets are bantering on the edge of a park (flowered Medici vase sealed to a balustrade): seated, the The sighing man pretends to soothe the aching foot of his companion who, held face to face, seems to yield to this courteous attention. From gallantry to ribaldness, there is little... Echoing this entertaining scene placed under the graces of the 18th century is represented, on the other, a dreamlike landscape (foliage, hornbeams, tree stump, piece of 'water) silhouetted against a background of evanescent groves of an enchanting palatial residence with very "Versailles" profiles. Bathed in a soft luminosity, treated in pearly, bluish, pink tones supported by shades of golden browns or touched with bright colors (animated scene), these delightful pictorial compositions give the porcelain ensemble an irresistible note of seduction. The interior of the Cup, surrounded by a milky white enamel, is decorated with a garland of country flowers and on the reverse of its lid with a leafy floral crown painted "naturally". These candid floral motifs - hollyhocks, bindweed, daisies, passion flowers, pansies, etc. - with sentimental significance are in perfect agreement with the theme of the painted cartels. An elegant gilded bronze frame finely chiseled with Louis XVI ornamental motifs - ribboned cord, corolla of acanthus leaves, openwork band of flowered, beaded foliage interlacing, festoons of grained laurel - sets the cup with fixed side grips on the windings. Greek style" embellished with florets, leaves, seeds and acanthus strings. Topped with a pine cone fret, it stands on a circular base with an indented projection highlighted with a ribboned rush and small foliage. With an ornamental vocation due to the magnitude of its proportions, this porcelain piece with a mastered Neo-Louis XVI twist brilliantly revisits the decorative splendors, the charms of the amorous gallantry of an 18th century which has been unrelenting in France since the Second Empire to reimagine forms - here, in the potpourri or the candy box -, to revisit and dream of pictorial genres and motifs in the light of a good Versailles imagination. So many seductions that our Covered Cup reveals and seals. ----------------------- Quality porcelain work in Louis XVI style from the second half of the 19th century. Circa 1880. Marks and signature: On the lid, signature in one of the painted cartels difficult to identify: "A.Auut" (?) - On its reverse, Sèvres mark painted in blue with two intertwined "LL" surmounted by a lily centered with the monogram in linked letters 'HD'. On the reverse of the lid, painted mark in; - on the lid, signature in the painted decoration Dimensions: Total H.: 50 cm; - Width with handles: 39 cm; Diam. : 31 cm - Base: 18x18 cm. Materials: gilded bronze; porcelain with Four Blue background and gold painted highlights; polychrome porcelain in reserves. Excellent condition. Original gilding (tiny losses in places to note)