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Gobelet litron et soucoupe: C.8 & A-1956

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 26 (Lower Marlay)

Titles

Gobelet litron et soucoupe

Maker(s)

Factory: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Painter: Vielliard, André-Vincent

Entities

Categories

Description

Soft-paste porcelain cup and saucer with a pale yellow ground, painted in blue and maroon enamels with a continuous landscape on the cup, and a horticultural vignette and landscape on the saucer, and gilded.

Soft-paste porcelain decorated overglaze with a pale yellow ground, painting in blue and maroon enamels, and gilding. The glaze on the lower part of the cup handle is speckly, and base of the saucer is very speckly particularly in the middle. Cylindrical cup with double-curved handle. Circular saucer with flat central area and deep sloping sides. There is a suspension hole in the footring of the saucer. Both pieces have a pale yellow ground. The cup is painted in blue with continuous landscape including buildings and figures, with above and below a maroon band with dark blue dots below. Round the upper part of the cup there is a border composed of a series of blue Ss linked by wavy sprays of blue leaves with a maroon band above. There are bands of gilding round the foot and rim, lines of gilding down the sides of the handle, and down its back, a large leaf, a spot, a bell flower, three spots a smaller bell flower and eight spots. The centre of the saucer is painted in blue with a horticultural vignette, encircled by a maroon band with dark blue dots outside it. A similar band encircles the outer edge of the base. The sides are painted in blue with a continuous landscape with buildings. The border is en suite with that on the cup.

Notes

History note: Louis Colville Gray Clarke, Cambridge, by whom lent to The Fitzwilliam Museum in 1947

Legal notes

Given by L.C.G. Clarke, MA

Place(s) associated

  • Sèvres ⪼ France

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1956-07-19) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray

Dating

18th Century, Late
Louis XVI
Circa 1787 CE - Crica 1788 CE

Note

André-Vincent Vieillard (1717-90) joined the factory at Vincennes in 1752. He was a versatile artist but not so talented at figure painting as Dodin and Morin. Fom the mid 1760s he concentrated on landscapes with small figures, and in the 1780s also executed continuous landscapes on a coloured grounds, as on this cup and saucer, and C.62 & A-1961.

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 earlier.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 and d'Albis, 1991, Savill, 1988, Bellaigue 2009). This is a gobelet litron of the third size.

Yellow grounds were not really popular until about 1775 and then continued to be so through the 1780s, particularly after 1787. See other examples C.60 & A-1961 an écuelle also by Vielliard, painted with continuous landscapes, in purple.

School or Style

Louis XVI

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamels ( blue and maroon) ground colour ( pale yellow) gold
Saucer Diameter 14.7 cm Height 3.5 cm
Rim Of Cup Diameter 7.4 cm
Cup Height 7.5 cm
Cup Including Handle Width 10 cm
Handle

Materials used in production

presumed lead glaze Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain

Techniques used in production

Throwing : Soft-paste porcelain, thrown, with applied moulded handle and lead-glaze,decorated overglaze with pale yellow ground colour, painting in blue and maroon enamels, and gilding
Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: interlaced L's with KK beneath
  • Location: On base of cup and saucer
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue enamel
  • Type: Factory mark

Inscription present: four dots unevenly arranged in a horizontal row

  • Text: ....
  • Location: On base of cup between factory mark and date letters
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue enamel
  • Type: Painter's mark

Inscription present: an horizontal line with three dots evenly dispersed above

  • Location: On base saucer between factory mark and date letters
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue enamel
  • Type: Painter's mark

Inscription present: a 4 with a sideways v possibly a 7

  • Text: 4 7
  • Location: On base of cup by footring
  • Method of creation: Incised
  • Type: Incised mark
  • Text: 3 6
  • Location: On base of saucer by footring
  • Method of creation: Incised
  • Type: Incised mark

Inscription present: square white paper label, now buff

  • Text: 'SEVRES/Date 1788/Painter/Veiiellard'
  • Location: On base of cup
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in greyish-blue ink
  • Type: Label

Inscription present: rectanuglar white lined paper labelw tih cut corners

  • Text: Lent by Louis C.G. Clarke/X.Dec.1947.
  • Location: On base of cup and saucer
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in faded black ink
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.8 & A-1956
Primary reference Number: 93543
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 5 January 2021 Last processed: Monday 18 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Gobelet litron et soucoupe" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/93543 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:04:03

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/93543 |title=Gobelet litron et soucoupe |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:04:03|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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