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Gobelet litron et soucoupe: C.30 & A-1961

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Gobelet litron et soucoupe

Maker(s)

Factory: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory

Entities

Categories

Description

Soft-paste porcelain cup and saucer, with a pink ground, painted in enamels with linked oval garlands of green leaves and scarlet berries, creating blind oval reserves, and gilded.

Soft-paste porcelain painted decorated with a pink pointillé ground, painting in pink and green enamels, and gilding. Cylindrical cup with ear-shaped handle. Circular saucer with flat central area and sloping sides. There is a hole in the footring of each piece. Both pieces have a pink ground with regularly spaced small white circles surrounded by darker pink dots. The cup has four oval reserves linked by reserved curved bands outlined in gold, containing linked oval garlands of green leaves and scarlet berries. There are bands of gilding round the foot and rim, and lines of gilding down the sides of the handle which also has three husks, a dot and a stroke down its back.The saucer has a similar ground. In the centre it has a circular reserve framed by a band of gilding and containing a wreath of green leaves and scarlet berries. The sides and part of the flat area have seven linked oval reserves decorated en suite with the four on the cup. There is a band of gilding round the rim.

Notes

History note: Unknown before testator

Legal notes

L.C.G. Clarke Bequest, 1960

Place(s) associated

  • Sèvres ⪼ France

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1960) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray

Dating

18th Century, Mid#
Louis XV
Circa 1765 CE - 1770 CE

Note

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 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 (records are lacking) 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.

This is a gobelet litron of the 3rd size with Savill’s handle C. This type of decoration was executed in both pink and blue, with different motifs in the reserves (see documentation, Dauterman, 1970).

School or Style

Neoclassical

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamels gold
Saucer Diameter 12.1 cm
Cup Rim Diameter 5.6 cm
Saycer Height 3.1 cm
Cup Height 5.9 cm Width 7.9 cm
Handle

Materials used in production

Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain

Techniques used in production

Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: almost illegible on cup

  • Text: interlaced L's
  • Location: On base of cup and saucer
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue enamel
  • Type: Factory mark
  • Text: 11
  • Location: On base of cup to right of suspension hole
  • Method of creation: Incised
  • Type: Incised mark

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.30 & A-1961
Primary reference Number: 74298
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 25 February 2020 Last processed: Wednesday 13 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://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74298 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:32:55

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74298 |title=Gobelet litron et soucoupe |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:32:55|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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