A SEVRES GREEN-GROUND TWO-HANDLED CUP, COVER AND STAND (GOBELET 'A LAIT' ET SOUCOUPE, 2EME GRANDEUR)

See Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. II, pp. 667-674 for three examples of this form (C438, C439 and C440), where the author explains that this form of cup was probably intended for milk-based drinks mixed with wine, beer, herbal infusions or meat stocks and 'prescribed for those suffering from fever, depression, or the effects of too much alcohol'. The deep saucer may have been used to carry bread or as a bowl for cooling the drink. Examples in Madame de Pompadour's inventory were listed in a garde-robe adjoining a bedroom.

A gobelet of the same form and with very similar flower decoration within green-ground borders of the same type as those on the present lot was sold in these Rooms at the Wentworth sale, 'The Property of The Trustees of The Olive, Countess Fitzwiliam Chattels Settlement and of other members of the family', 8 July 1998, lot 89; it was paired with a corbeille carré or pierced tray.

See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th century, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, Vol. I, p. 90 where the author mentions that the painter's mark H appears on good-quality flower-decorated pieces from 1753 to 1764. Peters suggests that the most likely candidates for the mark might be C-F Becquet, or perhaps M Socquet.