Gazette Drouot - C apencheres

A royal gift!
Say it with flowers! And this is just what
happened with this lavish French Restoration
Sèvres dinner set with no fewer than
129 pieces, which fetched €320,186, in line
with its high estimate. The set was given
by Louis XVIII to Adrien de Montmorency (1768-1837),
Duc de Laval, a soldier and brilliant diplomat whose
loyalty to the Bourbons was thus rewarded. He was one
of the first to present his compliments to Louis XV's
grandson at Calais in 1814 on his return to France.
The sovereign even granted him the title of prince, and
Anne-Adrien-Pierre was then known as "Prince-duc de
Montmorency-Laval". This dinner set was probably the
king's last gift to his follower. The decision to present
him with it was made on 16 August 1824. Begun in
March, it was delivered to its recipient on 31 August by
order of the Minister of the King's Household, dated 26
August. The signed receipt is dated 3 September…
Louis XVIII died on "Thursday the sixteenth day of
September in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-
USEFUL INFO
Where ? Paris- Drouot
When ? 8 October
Who ? Pescheteau-Badin auction house
How much ? €320,186
AUCTION RESULTS THE MAGAZINE
HD
Sèvres, 1824, porcelain dessert set containing 129 pieces
with botanical decoration by the painter Gilbert Drouet, after
Pierre-Joseph Redouté's collections.
four, before midday," in terrible agony, as we know.
Under the French Restoration, the policy was to soothe
post-revolutionary tensions, and the theme of the
service is based on the peaceful delights of botany. The
plates of two collections by Pierre Joseph Redouté, "Les
Liliacées", published in 80 deliveries between 1802 and
1816, and "Les Roses", published between 1817 and
1824, served as a model for the decoration of this set.
At the Sèvres factory, Gilbert Drouet painted all the polychrome
flowers and birds. The dinner set has remained
in the Duc's family until now, and has been reverently
preserved: of the 130 pieces delivered in 1824, only one
of its hundred plates has disappeared… Sylvain Alliod
N° 19 I GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
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