Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
The Richard Deacon Collection
Lot 101*
A Sèvres bleu-céleste ground plate from the Prince de Rohan service, circa 1771
2 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£8,000 - £12,000
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Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
Ghislaine Howard
Sale Coordinator
A Sèvres bleu-céleste ground plate from the Prince de Rohan service, circa 1771
The centre of the well decorated with a two-tone gilt monogram "LPR" surrounded by an oak leaf garland issuing from an uprooted tree trunk, the bleu-céleste ground rim reserved with three cartouches of birds in landscapes surrounded by gilt berried oak leaf garlands hanging from rings attached to gilt scrolls, 25cm, incised LL (typical very minor surface wear)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Purchased by Louis-René-Edouard, prince de Rohan-Guémenée on 7 September 1772
The present lot is from the dessert service made for Cardinal Louis-René-Edouard Prince de Rohan-Guémenée, the Ambassador-Extraordinary to Austria from 1772 to 1774, when he fell out of favour with the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. He later became Grand Almoner of France, the Cardinal of Sainte Eglise Romaine in 1778 and afterwards Bishop of Strasbourg and the Saint Empire in 1779. The service consisted of 368 pieces costing 20,772 livres overall, and included a total of 120 plates. See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, vol. II, 2005, pp. 479ff, no. 72-1, for a full discussion of the service.
A trial plate and three further plates are in the Royal Collection and illustrated by Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. II, 2009, pp.620ff, nos. 157-158. Other plates are in various museum collections, including the Toledo Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., the Bowes Museum, UK, and the Musée de Louvres, Paris.
A plate was sold from the John Shearer Collection, Christie's London, 25 November 2014, lot 35; another at Christie's New York, 24 October 2012, lot 166; a pair at Christie's New York, 22 October 2010; and another on 11 June 2010, lot 97. Most recently a pair of ice cup stands sold at Christie's London, 22 September 2022, lot 54. An ice cup from the service sold in these Rooms, 14 June 2017, lot 211.