Lot 1: A SEVRES BISCUIT AND COBALT-BLUE GROUND THREE-PIECE TABLE GARNITURE

Dated 1912-1921, printed green and impressed D(ure) N(ouveau) marks, the biscuit initialed L.S. or J.G., the smaller stands initialed A.B., the biscuit models based on works by Taraval, 1773 The central figure group modelled as 'Le Triomphe de Bacchus', flanked by 'Le Tambourin' and 'Les Cymbales', all on oval incurved cobalt-blue stands edged with gilt bands 18in. (45.8cm.) high, overall, the tallest (3) NOTES Hughes Taraval (1729-1785) was painter to the French Court and later superintendent of the Royal tapestry works at the Gob‚lins. He carried out many decorative schemes in the French Royal Palaces, his initial commission (1769) being for the 'Le Triomphe de Bacchus', a ceiling painting for the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre. The present lot, first modelled in 1773, is composed of this group and the pendent 'Les Cymbales', and another group to which it is strikingly similar in composition 'Le Tambourin'. Both were conceived by SŠvres as components of a larger table-garniture with a Bacchic theme having the group of 'Le Triomphe de Bacchus' at its centre; here Bacchus is based on a likeness of Louis XIV (who was more usually depicted as Apollo). For the complete garniture, see Emile Bourgeois et Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard, Les Biscuits de SŠvres, Recueille des ModŠles de la Manufacture de SŠvres au XVIIIe SiŠcle (Paris), Tome I, p.14, specifically figs no. 166, 570 and 588. For an 18th century example of the central figure group see Svend Eriksen and Sheila Tabakoff, Le Porcellane Francesi a Palazzo Pitti, Firenze, 1973. A model of 'Les Cymbales' was sold in our London Rooms, 8th November 1999, lot 142; and another version of 'Le Triomphe de Bacchus', lot 144.