Sèvres plate

Code: MB418

From a service of the Duc de Chartres

1775

Diameter: 9 ½ in. (24.2 cm)

Marks: interlaced Ls enclosing date letter X, painter’s mark for François Barrat (active 1769-91, 1795-96)

This plate was one of 72 in a service purchased by Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc de Chartres, eldest son of Louis-Philippe, duc d’Orléans. The duke was a prominent member of Paris society and much involved with horses and horse racing; he resided at the Palais Royal in Paris and at the time this service was commissioned, he was a patron of the hard paste porcelain factory, unaffiliated with the Sèvres factory, at the château de Vincennes. He succeeded his father as duc d’Orléans in 1785 and was known as Philippe Egalité during the French Revolution, during which time he notoriously voted for the execution of his cousin, King Louis XVI. He, in his turn, was executed on 6 November 1793, and his son, Louis-Philippe would later become King of the French, reigning from 1830 to 1848.