Sèvres hard-paste porcelain cup painted by Armand l'ainé 1773

Gobelet litron, third size. Two large sprays of polychrome flowers. Gilt pattern all over the body with dots, bubbles and serrated areas. Height 5.9 cm. Underglaze crowned interlaced L's, overglaze date-letter u for 1773, painter's mark A for Louis-Denis Armand, known as Armand l'ainé.

The carefully-drawn mark of a serrifed capital A is that of the factory's best bird painter, Louis-Denis Armand, who also painted flowers. See for example Sotheby's Paris, Leon Levy collection, 2 October 2008, lot 33, for an ecuelle with this kind of flower painting and the capital A mark.

Armand was one of the first factory artists to join the hard-paste painting workshop, a testimony to the hopes that this novel material embodied, and 1773 is the first year that hard paste was widely produced commercially.

Though Armand is known for his mark with its elaborate interlaced L's, here the factory mark had already been applied in underglaze blue, so he was left to paint only the date-letter and his own mark.

As the saucer is missing, this represents a rare opportunity to acquire a fine and unusual example of Armand's work, perhaps his earliest piece on hard paste, at a reasonable cost.

Slight gilt wear restored.

Stock Ref: WS 252

Price: £2,400