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Gobelet litron et soucoupe
Factory:
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Painter:
Noël, Guillaume
Soft-paste porcelain cup and saucer, painted in enamels with mauve and white stripes, and with wreaths, bows, and posies in reserves, and gilded
Soft-paste porcelain painted in blue, green, yellow, pink, red, and mauve enamels, and gilded. Cylindrical cup with double-curved handle. Circular saucer with flat central area and deep, sloping sides. There is a hole for suspension in the footring of each piece.The cup has a ground of mauve stripes, each flanked by a gold line, a blue line and a line of gold dots, alternating with reserved white stripes decorated with small gold floral sprays. Encircling the cup there are two large and two small shaped reserves linked to each other. The two large ones contain wreaths of laurel leaves and red berries tied at the top with a bow of mauve ribbon from which is suspended a posy of three pink roses and leaves. The wreaths are linked by swags passing through the two small reserves, each composed of three posies of three pink roses linked by sprays of leaves. There are bands of gilding round the base and rim, lines down the sides of the handle and a stylised leaf. and two bell flowers separated by spots down its back. In the centre of the saucer there are two concentric gold circles from which radiate mauve stripes like those on the cup. They end at varying distances from the centre, so that they form a cross-shape with incurved sides and ends. The sides are decorated en suite with the cup with four large reserved linked by four small, each containing a posy of three roses and leaves. There is a band of gilding round the rim.
History note: Louis Colville Gray Clarke, MA, Leckhampton, Cambridge; lent to The Fitzwilliam Museum in 1947; given, 1956
Given by Louis C.G. Clarke, MA
Method of acquisition: Given (1956-07-19) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray
18th Century, Late
Louis XVI
Production date:
AD 1777
: The cup and saucer bear the date letter for 1777
Shades of mauve, lilac, violet and purple were fashionable from 1773 and throughout the reign of Louis XVI (see Documentation, Verlet, 1953).
The gobelet litron was named after a cubic measure, the litron, which was normally made of wood, and was used for dry stuffs, such as corn and peas. Its size in Paris had been defined in 1670 as the equivalent of 9.45 cm high and 10.15 cm in diameter in pouces and lignes, which was larger than the largest of the porcelain cups. The first size of gobelet litron had been introduced at Vincennes before October 1752 when it was mentioned in an inventory of stock, but was probably being made a few years.The second and third sizes followed in 1753, and the fourth and fifth in 1757. They could be fitted with one of seven different handle forms . A drawing in the archives at Sèvres is dated 19 February 1753 (MNS, R1, liasse 2, dossier 2, No. 6bis) They were supplied singly, singly with a plateau carré, in ’harlequin’ sets, or as part of matching dejeuner. (See Documentation, Préaux 1991, Bellaigue 2009, Savill, 1988) This is a gobelet litron and saucer of the second size with Savill's handle shape B.
Decoration
composed of
enamels
( blue, green, yellow, pink, red, and mauve)
gold
Saucer
Diameter 13.9 cm
Height 3.2 cm
Cup
Height 7 cm
Cup Including Handle
Width 9.4 cm
presumed lead-glaze
Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain
Moulding
: Soft-paste porcelain, thrown, painted in blue, green, yellow, pink, red, and mauve enamels, and gilded.
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: horizontal line, with above, a line parallel to it with a hump in the middle
Inscription present: rectangular white paper label now buff
Inscription present: rectangular lined white paper label with cut corners now discoloured
Inscription present: rectangular white paper label with printed rectangular frame comprising a wide and a narrow blue line
Accession number: C.7 & A-1956
Primary reference Number: 93542
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Gobelet litron et soucoupe" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/93542 Accessed: 2024-11-18 00:41:03
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/93542
|title=Gobelet litron et soucoupe
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-18 00:41:03|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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