Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
The Richard Deacon Collection
Lot 107*
A pair of Sèvres oval coolers (Seaux ovales à liqueur) from the service for the Vicomte de Choiseul, circa 1766
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 pair of Sèvres oval coolers (Seaux ovales à liqueur) from the service for the Vicomte de Choiseul, circa 1766
Painted by Pierre-Antoine Méraud below the rim with shells on a gilt-edged maroon ground alternating with gilt trellis panels on a blue ground edged with gilt scrollwork, hung with colourful flower garlands, the scroll handles embellished in gilding and enamels, 31cm across; 11.7cm high, interlaced LL monogram, date letter N and painter's mark S (2)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Delivered Louis-César-Renaud, vicomte de Choiseul-Praslin on 1 October 1766;
Anon. sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 26 June 1924, lot 69 (part);
Rothschild family, Paris;
Seized by the Einsatzstab Reichleiter Rosenberg (ERR) during WWII and stored in the Jeu de Paume, inv. no. R 4223, one with applied paper label, repatriated in May 1946;
Christie's New York, 21 May 1997, lot 92
The service was delivered to Louis-César-Renaud, vicomte de Choiseul-Praslin, a soldier and diplomat who served as French Ambassador-Extraordinary to the Two Sicilies between 1767 and 1771. He succeeded his father as duc de Choiseul in 1785, and the service is listed in a 1791 inventory of his possessions following his death. See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, vol. II, rev. ed. 2015, no. 66-3, pp. 377ff., for a comprehensive discussion of the service.
A substantial part of the service was sold in Paris in 1924 - when it was presumably acquired by the Rothschild family - and again (with some losses) at Christie's New York, 21 May 1997, lot 90, and again at Christie's London, 17 April 2000, lot 89. Two such oval coolers are illustrated in the 1924 sale catalogue: one of the present lot, and another painted by Noël. Based on the lists of decorators' Piecework, David Peters notes (p. 377-378) that these two seaux à liqueur ovales decorated by Méreaud l'aîné are more likely to belong to the service, which included only two of this form, than the two decorated by Noël that were sold together with the service in 1997 and 2000.