Sèvres green ground tea service

Code: MB600

Déjeuner Courteille

1759

Soft-paste porcelain

Tray: 3/4 x 14 1/8 x 10 3/8 in. (1.9 x 35.8 x 26.4 cm.)

Height of cup: 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.)

Diameter of saucer: 5 1/4 in (13.3 cm.)

Marks: interlaced Ls surrounding date letter f, fleur-de-lis mark for painter Vincent Taillandier 

Small tea services, or déjeuners, were first produced at Vincennes in 1753. Varying in composition depending on the size of the tray, they consisted of between one and four cups and saucers and most often a milk jug, a sugar bowl and a teapot; more rarely did déjeuners include a tea caddy or a coffee pot. The present tea service consists of four cups and saucers, a milk jug, sugar bowl and tray. The cups and saucers are of the gobelet Hébert’et soucoupe model of the second size. The model was made in three sizes that were thrown or molded in both soft and hard paste. Introduced at the factory in 1752, the Hébert was named either for a secretary of Louis XV or Thomas-Joachim Hébert, a luxury dealer. The popular cup remained in production until the 1770s. An example of this model can be found in the Wallace Collection, illustrated in Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, vol. II (London: Trustees of the Wallace Collection, 1988), p. 498, cat. no. C344.