Late 18th Century Wine Glass Cooler From the “Service Du Gobelet Du Roi” (King’s Goblet Service) – Sèvres Royal Manufactory

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RARE WINE-GLASS COOLER FROM THE “SERVICE DU GOBELET DU ROI” (KING’S GOBLET SERVICE) – SÈVRES ROYAL MANUFACTORY – 18TH CENTURY

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Circular in form, this small vessel was designed to cool an individual drinking glass by immersing it in crushed ice or cold water.

It is fitted with two lateral handles, or “ears,” finely modelled in the shape of shells, decorative motifs characteristic of the Rococo taste fashionable at the time. The piece is raised on a circular, gadrooned gilt-brass pedestal foot, providing both stability and visual lightness.

Hard-paste porcelain.

Provenance: From the Service du Gobelet du Roi, commissioned by Louis XVI from the Sèvres Royal Manufactory in 1782 for the use of the officers of the Gobelet du Roi at Versailles.

On a white ground, painted in polychrome with garlands of cornflowers winding around carmine bands, and myrtle leaves intertwined along a blue band. Gilt bands and highlights, with a gilt wolf’s-tooth border around the rim.

“SERVICE DU GOBELET DU ROI”
The service was intended for the officers of the Gobelet du Roi, the department of the Maison du Roi responsible in particular for the table settings, bread, fruit and beverages served at the royal table.
Begun in 1782, the service known as the Service du Gobelet du Roi was delivered to Versailles on 11 May 1783. It was subsequently enlarged with additional pieces delivered each year between 1784 and 1791.
Its decoration is recorded in the registers of the painters and kiln workers preserved in the archives of the Sèvres Manufactory under the designation guirlandes de barbeaux (“garlands of cornflowers”), accompanied by the inscription Service du Roy (Arch. M.N.S., Vj 2, fol. 141 and Vj 2, fol. 53).
Several pieces from this prestigious royal service are now preserved at the Palace of Versailles. Other examples are held in the collections of the Musée du Louvre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Bowes Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Schloss Fasanerie in Fulda.

Bibliography
Bauluz, C., “Vers un Retour des Sèvres,” La Revue du Louvre, December 1991, pp. 68–69.
Peters, D., De Versailles à Paris : Le Destin des Collections Royales, 1989, no. 129, p. 262; Versailles et les Tables Royales en Europe, 1993, p. 120; Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, 2005, vol. III, no. 83-2, pp. 663–665.


Mark(s): Painted in red with the crowned interlaced double “L” mark. Date letter “FF” for 1783,
Decorator’s mark: Taillandier,
Dimensions: Height: 4.45 in – Length: 6.10 in,
Condition: VERY GOOD CONDITION – Restored hairline cracks to the body,
Period: 18th century – Louis XVI period – Date letter “FF” for 1783,
Notes: Very minor wear consistent with age and use. See less