Sevres dessert plates 1804/05

Description

Pair dessert plates manufacture de Sevres yellow ground plates with floral bouquets to the centers, red & gold floral band on the outer rim.  Part of a service ordered by Emperor Napoleon I and gifted to Duke Louis Philippe de Segur, as a token of gratitude for serving as the Master of Ceremony during the marriage of Princess Stephanie de Beauharnais.  This pair are from the original service that included 72 plates, there were several later orders with production dates after 1806.

Provenance

Comte Louis Philippe de Segur

History & Context

These plates formed part of the distinctive yellow-ground Sèvres service presented by Napoleon I to Louis-Philippe, comte de Ségur (1753–1830), Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Imperial Court, on 30 June 1806. The gift followed the marriage celebrations of Stéphanie de Beauharnais and Karl, hereditary Prince of Baden, for which Ségur had played an important ceremonial role. The original service comprised seventy-two plates, each decorated with a yellow ground, gilt borders and finely painted floral bouquets, and was valued at 2,254 francs. Further pieces were added to the service in later years, but this plate bears the 1806 Imperial Sèvres mark and is therefore consistent with the original presentation group. Its survival offers a direct material link to the elaborate system of gifts, court ceremony and patronage through which Napoleon rewarded senior members of his household and reinforced the visual culture of the First Empire.
72 assiettes
16 compotiers ronds
2 sucriers
2 jattes à fraises
2 corbeilles forme Jasmin
2 glacières forme vase
= 2254 francs

Marks & Inscriptions

↑ I = Year AN XIII (1804-05)
L = ?
9̱ = ?
ch = Louis-Mathias Chanou

Additional photographs