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Lot Essay
This dessert service was ordered by Louis-René-Édouard, Prince de Rohan (1734-1803), in 1771, the year of his appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Viennese Court by Louis XV. Rohan entertained in Vienna on infamously lavish scale and the scandal that was associated him did not gain him much favour with Empress Maria Theresa.
The service, which bears the date letters for 1771 and 1772, was delievered by Sèvres on 7th September 1772 at a cost of 20,772 livres, and it consisted of 368 pieces. Each plate cost 36 livres. Shortly after Louis XV's death, Rohan was ordered to return to France where, inspite of being met by a cold reception, he was appointed Grand Almoner, then Cardinal, and he also succeeded to his family Bishopric of Strasbourg in 1779.
Twenty-four pieces of this service are in the Wrightsman Collection, New York, and for an extensive discussion of this service, see Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art Catalogue (Greenwich, 1970), Vol. IV, pp. 261-271. Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres, Porcelain from the Royal Collection, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue (London, 1979-80), p. 72, no. 67, illustrates one of three plates from the service in the Royal Collection. Sir Geoffrey suggests that the plate, which is identical with other plates from the service with the exception of the central oak branch garland, could possibly have been a trial plate. A sucrier from the service is illustrated by Marcelle Brunet and Tamara Préaud, Sèvres, Des origines à nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), p. 188, no. 191. Pieces from the service were sold by Sotheby's Monaco on 26th May 1980, lots 329-337; another by Sotheby's New York on 4th May 1985, lot 107; pieces from the Firestone Collection were sold by Christie's New York on 21st-22nd March 1991, lots 273-278; a pair of plates in these Rooms on 8th November 1999, lot 127 and a plate, from the Charles-Otto Zieseniss Collection, by Christie's Paris on 6th December 2001, lot 174.
The service, which bears the date letters for 1771 and 1772, was delievered by Sèvres on 7th September 1772 at a cost of 20,772 livres, and it consisted of 368 pieces. Each plate cost 36 livres. Shortly after Louis XV's death, Rohan was ordered to return to France where, inspite of being met by a cold reception, he was appointed Grand Almoner, then Cardinal, and he also succeeded to his family Bishopric of Strasbourg in 1779.
Twenty-four pieces of this service are in the Wrightsman Collection, New York, and for an extensive discussion of this service, see Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art Catalogue (Greenwich, 1970), Vol. IV, pp. 261-271. Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Sèvres, Porcelain from the Royal Collection, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue (London, 1979-80), p. 72, no. 67, illustrates one of three plates from the service in the Royal Collection. Sir Geoffrey suggests that the plate, which is identical with other plates from the service with the exception of the central oak branch garland, could possibly have been a trial plate. A sucrier from the service is illustrated by Marcelle Brunet and Tamara Préaud, Sèvres, Des origines à nos jours (Fribourg, 1978), p. 188, no. 191. Pieces from the service were sold by Sotheby's Monaco on 26th May 1980, lots 329-337; another by Sotheby's New York on 4th May 1985, lot 107; pieces from the Firestone Collection were sold by Christie's New York on 21st-22nd March 1991, lots 273-278; a pair of plates in these Rooms on 8th November 1999, lot 127 and a plate, from the Charles-Otto Zieseniss Collection, by Christie's Paris on 6th December 2001, lot 174.