A rare pair of Louis XV Sèvres hard-paste porcelain 'moucheté corail' background covered v

Engraved with the Cadaval coat-of-arms

An important covered silver tureen, liner and stand, Robert-Joseph Auguste, Paris, stand and cover 1779-1780, tureen and liner 1780-1781

the oval-shaped tureen resting on four scrolled feet with foliage attachments, the body applied with garlands of flowers and leaves, foliage handles, the upper part of the body decorated with a frieze of water leaves, the rim decorated with a foliage frieze, the top of the body decorated with a water leaves frieze, the rim decorated with a foliage frieze, the cover decorated with fluted, the cover finial with fruit, the stand with leafy rims, decorated with four medallions of flowers, the centre of the stand, the inside of the cover and the liner engraved with a coat-of-arms with a Duke's coronet

Height 14 3/16in. ; width 20 11/16in. ; 298 1⁄16oz.

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Importante terrine couverte, sa doublure et son présentoir par Robert-Joseph Auguste, Paris, le présentoir et le couvercle 1779-1780, la terrine et la doublure 1780-1781

la terrine de forme ovale, reposant sur quatre pieds en enroulement à attaches feuillagée, le corps appliqué de guirlandes de fleurs et feuilles, les anses feuillagée, la partie supérieure du corps ornée d'une frise de feuilles d'eau, le bord orné d'une frise de feuillages, le couvercle à décor de canaux, la prise en fruit grenu, le présentoir à bord feuillagé orné de quatre médaillions de fleurs, le centre du présentoir, l'intérieur du couvercle et la doublure gravés d'armoiries timbrées d'une couronne de duc

Haut. 36 cm ; larg. 52.6 cm ; 8450 g

Catalogue note
This terrine is engraved with the coat-of-arms of the Dukes of Cadaval. The Dukes of Cadaval were closely linked to the royal house of Portugal and politically oriented towards France. Descended from a younger branch of the House of Bragança, one of their ancestors, Francisco de Melo, Marquis of Ferreira (1588-1645), played a decisive role in the accession of Joao IV to the throne of Portugal. In recognition of this role and other great services to the Crown, the King named Francisco's son, aged 10, First Duke of Cadaval in 1648. The first duke became very close to the Queen of Portugal, Marie-Françoise de Savoie-Nemours, great-grand daughter of King Henri IV of France, and married in the first marriage to Marie Angélique Henriette de Lorraine, herself a granddaughter of Henri IV. The third duke, Jaime (1684-1749), after marrying Luisa, the natural daughter of King Pedro II of Portugal, married another French princess from the House of Lorraine, Henriette Julienne Gabrielle (1722-61), daughter of Louis, Prince of Lambesc.

This family was very passionate about French silver and gold objects. A 19-piece silver toilet set, Paris 1738/39, by Alexis Loir and others, kept at the Detroit Institute of Arts, is thought to have been a wedding present for Henriette on their wedding day.

Tradition has it that the tureen or terrine presented today was commissioned by the 5th Duke of Cadaval (1765-1808), who inherited the title in 1771. In 1791, he married Marie Madeleine de Montmorency-Luxembourg (1778-1833), whose mother had been lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

At the time, French-style service was the order of the day at all the Courts, with shaped pieces presented in the centre of the table alongside other items such as mustard, oil and salt shakers. Terrines were often served in pairs, surrounding the pot-à-oille, which could be served on its own. Our terrine therefore has at least one twin piece: of the same model and dates was sold by Bonhams, London, on 18 June 2014, lot 152. This one was sold at Christie's, Collection Monsieur and Madame François, 9 June 2011, lot 50.

The pot-à-oille by R-J. Auguste of the same provenance is also known. It was part of the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, sold by Sotheby's London, 07 December 2022, lot 32 (price obtained 119 700 GBP).

Other pieces from the service include a pair of four-light candelabras with the Cadaval coat of arms, by Robert-Joseph Auguste's son Henry, offered at Christie's, New York, 11 April 1995, lot 157.

Robert-Joseph Auguste was born in Valenciennes in 1723 (according to the research of Xavier Duquesne and Yves Carlier, contrary to the generally accepted idea that he was born in Mons in Hainaut). He was the son of Christophe-Auguste, a "bourgeois" from Paris. He obtained his master's degree in 1757, at the age of 34, a very advanced age for a silversmith. He had already spent more than ten years working for other silversmiths, as well as for merchant-merchants such as Lazare Duvaux. In 1755, for example, he took part in the creation of a pair of anthropomorphic gold salt and pepper shakers acquired by the Marquise de Pompadour. Auguste was soon renowned for the quality of his carving and chasing and, in the 1760s, he further diversified his production by also making gold objects. He was responsible for the gold chalice of the dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe, delivered between 1755 and 1760, with its rocaille decoration (kept in the church of Radmirje in Slovenia). The goldsmith was a close friend of the Marquis de Marigny, director of the King's Buildings and brother of the Marquise de Pompadour, who even attended the goldsmith's wedding in 1758. Thanks to his talent and connections, he received numerous commissions from the Court, where his style was much appreciated. From the 1770s onwards, Auguste became a specialist in the emerging neoclassical style and received numerous commissions from all the Courts of Europe: Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Portugal, Hanover and, of course, Versailles. He was appointed "Orfèvre ordinaire du roi" in 1777 and did not retire until 1785-1786, leaving the workshop to his son Henry, before his death in 1805. A fabulous silversmith and sculptor with an inimitable style, his production is well documented thanks to the numerous drawings and correspondence he exchanged with merchants and those who commissioned his pieces. His finest creations are now preserved in museums around the world, including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Museu de Arte Antigua in Lisbon, but they are also to be found in all the great private collections of the 20th century.

It is clear that Auguste was able to produce such extensive services for his various clients by reusing drawings and casts, both in terms of shape and detail. The motifs and shapes of this terrine are very similar to those of the Ekaterinoslav service. The tureen supports follow the same oval shape, with a chiselled panel separated by flowers and slightly projecting feet in the shape of capitals. In addition, the buckets of the Ekaterinoslav service display the same decorative language as those of the Dukes of Cadaval, as can be seen in the rafraîchissoir also bearing the Cadaval arms of 1781, and that in the unmarked example, which formed part of the collection of Mr and Mrs Riahi, sold by Christie's London, 6 December 2012, lot 34.

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Cette terrine est gravée aux armes des ducs de Cadaval. Les ducs de Cadaval étaient intimement liés à la maison royale du Portugal et politiquement orientés vers la France. Descendant d’une branche cadette de la maison de Bragance, un de leurs ancêtres, Francisco de Melo, marquis de Ferreira (1588-1645), avait joué un rôle déterminant dans l'accession de Joao IV au trône du Portugal. En reconnaissance de ce rôle et d'autres grands services rendus à la couronne, le roi a créé le fils de Francisco, âgé de 10 ans, premier duc de Cadaval en 1