Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 136
A Sèvres plate from the "service des fruits ornements en brun rehausses en or" delivered to the Duke of Decazes, circa 1820
3 July 2025, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£1,500 - £2,000
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Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
Ghislaine Howard
Sale Coordinator
A Sèvres plate from the "service des fruits ornements en brun rehausses en or" delivered to the Duke of Decazes, circa 1820
Finely painted in the well with a fruiting branch of medlars, titled 'Nefle sans Noyau' on the reverse, surrounded by a gilt border, the rim with a scrolling border in brown heightened in gilding in imitation of bronze with acanthus, foliage and butterflies interspersed with polychrome flowerheads, 23.8cm diam., interlaced LL enclosing a fleur-de-lys and Sevres stencilled in blue, painter's mark PH in purple for Philippine, various incised marks (some rubbing to gilt border around well)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Delivered to the Sèvres saleroom on 22 December 1820 [Sèvres Archive, MNS Vv1, 153 v°];
Delivered to Élie Louis Decazes, 1st duc Decazes (1780-1860)
Élie Decazes studied law and was appointed to the cabinet of Louis Bonaparte in 1807 and counsel to the Court of Appeals in Paris in 1811. After the fall of the Empire he declared his loyalty to the Bourbon monarchy and was appointed first as Prefect of Police and then as Minister of Police on 24 September 1815. He served as Minister of the Interior from December 1818 to February 1820, becoming Prime Minister in November 2019 due to the resignations of General Dessolles and Baron Louis. However, his moderate policies alienated both radicals and Ultra-Royalists. The January 1820 Spanish revolution added to the tension, and following the assassination of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, on 13 February, Decazes was blamed by critics and accused of complicity. Though Louis XVIII initially defended him, family pressure forced Decazes to resign on 17 February. He was made a duke and went into exile to England becoming ambassador for France. He eventually withdrew from public life following the 1848 revolution.
