A Sèvres hard paste blue-black-ground chinoiserie plate (assiette ronde). Circa 1795, blue RF/Sèvres mark, painter's LG. For Etienne-Henri Le Guay, incised script G.

The centre painted in the Oriental style with a butterfly within a garland of flowering plants and fruit, the blue-black ground border gilt and enriched in platinum with three vignettes of Orientals among pagodas, fences, birds, flowering plants and trees, gilt line rim (some wear to gilt rim) - 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm.) diam. Estimate £10,000 - £12,000 ($14,800 - $17,760) Price Realized £39,650 ($58,682)

Provenance: With M. Vandermeersch

Notes: Citoyen Empaytaz et Compagnie were important dealers with outlets in Paris and Berlin in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. According to David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century (Little Berkhamsted, 2005), Vol. V, pp. 1053-55, service no. 94-11, twenty-five services were delivered to theses merchants between 10 October and 5 December 1794. The present plate is almost certainly from the ninth service in this delivery. This service incorporated two similar patterns imitating Oriental lacquer.

The Hermitage Museum collection retains pieces thought to be from this delivery. A plate, similar to the present example, with a very similar mark and other items from the same service formerly in the Collection of Prince Nicolay Borisovich Yusupov (1750-1831) is illustrated by Nina Birioukova, Natalia Kazakevitch, Musée de l'Ermitage, La porcelaine de Sèvres du XVIII siècle (St. Petersburg, 2005), pp.197-200, nos. 964-975.

For a plate in the British Museum, also from the same service, and a full discussion see Aileen Dawson, French Porcelain A catalogue of the British Museum Collection (London, 1994), pp. 213-214, no. 177 and for a full discussion of the black ground items produced at Sèvres in the early 1790's see Adrian Sassoon, The J.Paul Getty Museum, Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain Catalogue of the Collections (Malibu, 1991), p. 152-154.

M. de Semonville, Ambassadeur, was the first to purchase a service described in the Sèvres factory sales records as 'fond noir Chinois en ors de couleurs et platine, fleurs émaillés' delivered on 6 May 1791. M. de Semonville was described as an 'intriguer' who was moving in Russian, Austrian and Ottoman diplomatic circles.

For a discussion of four Sèvres services form Yusupov including examples of the service similar to the present example (the third service) see Kira Bulter, 'Sèvres for the Imperial Court', Apollo, June 1975, pp. 456-7.

Christie's. White Gold 18th Century Porcelain from Vincennes and Sèvres. 12 May 2010. London, King Street www.christies.com