CIRCA 1815-20, SEVRES OR POSSIBLY PARIS

In the 1992 sale, the plaque was attributed to Copenhagen, but the existence of a previously unpublished Sèvres guéridon in a private collection with identical decoration points to the probability of the plaque being Sèvres or Paris. The top of the Sèvres guéridon bears two overlapping cameos of Flora and Zephyr which are identical to the cameos on the present plaque. The quality of the cameos on both are the same, and the hand is undoubtedly the same. The plaque must therefore have been a sample or trial for the central part of the guéridon's surface. The Sèvres Archives record that two guéridons painted with cameo heads of Flora and Zephyr were made; one of which entered the saleroom at Sèvres on 15th December 1821, and was sold to S.A.R. Madame. The cameos are recorded as having been painted by Jean-Baptiste-Ignace Zwinger (active at Sèvres from 1811 to 1825).

The underside of the table top bears a number of labels which allude to a fascinating provenance. One label (in Danish) reads 'Property of the Queen Dowager Caroline Amelies' (Queen Caroline Amélie was the wife of Christian VIII, King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848). Other labels record that the table was also once in the possession of the Russian Imperial family at the Anitschkow Palace, St. Petersburg (one label is inscribed 'Palais "ANITCHKOW" Chambre de Sa Majeste l'Impèratrice', and another is inscribed 'Proprièté de Sa Majeste l'Empereur Palais "ANITCHKOFF" No 10 - table ronde No 33 - cabinet de travail rouge'). It is not clear exactly how the table came to be in the Russian Royal Family's possession, but it most probably arrived in Russia at the time of Princess Dagmar Maria of Denmark's marriage to Tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1866. Nor is it yet clear what the exact relationship between the plaque and table was, but as the similarity between the two is so striking, their provenance must be bound together in some way. It is interesting that the plaque should have surfaced in a sale in Denmark, as this suggests the possibility that it may have arrived in Denmark at the same time as the table, or even before the table's arrival, possibly for the approval of the central subject.