171. Bouillon couvert en porcelaine dure de Sèvres, provenant du service « à perles et barbeaux » de la Reine Marie-Antoinette, circa 1781 A Sèvres hard-paste bouillon cup and cover from the 'perles et barbeaux' service for Queen Marie-Antoinette, circa 1781 Painted by Nicolas Dutenda, with borders of grey pearls against a pale green ground, alternated with scattered cornflowers, set between dentil borders in gold, the finial shaped as a simple peach and two leaves in gold, the handle picked out in gilding, 8cm high, crowned interlaced LL monogram in blue, painter's mark D.T. for Dutenda, gilder's mark .F. for J.-A. Fallot , incised HI (restored) (2) Provenance: Purchased by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and entered in the end-of-year sale records for 1781-82; Lord Revelstoke (Christie's London, 28 June 1893, lots 373 and 374); Private European Collection Literature: C. Baulez, « Vers un Retour des Sèvres », Revue du Louvre, décembre 1991, pp. 69-70 See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services (2005, revised edition 2015), vol. III, no. 81-13, pp. 645-646, for a full discussion on the service. Ordered in July 1781 and probably executed based on examples provided by Michel Gabriel Commelin on 7 August, this elegant simple service was delivered to the Queen on January 2, 1782, during the exhibition at Versailles. It is mentioned in the archives of the Sèvres factory under various names including 'Service de la Reine', 'Service à Perles pour la Reine' and Service à Perles et Barbeaux. It included 295 pieces, for an amount of 12,420 pounds, including 96 plates and 24 soup plates worth 30 livres each and 24 pots à jus at 18 livres each. The Service à Perles et Barbeaux may have been ordered for use at the Trianon where the Queen had two large dining rooms. Unlike the services like Service à frise riche, perles et roses both made for Marie-Antoinette and Gustave III of Sweden in 1784 and subsequently for the comtesse d'Artois in 1789, the Service à Perles et Barbeaux of 1781 was exclusively produced for the Queen. Pieces from this service come to the market rarely, and two pots à jus were sold at Sotheby's Paris, Important French Furniture And Works Of Art 29 March 2007, lots 70 and 71. A rare bateau from this service was sold at Bonhams London, 25 May 2011, lot 362. A large part of this service was in the collection of Lord Revelstoke (Christie's London sale, June 28, 1893, lots 373 and 374). This same set appeared again at public sale in 1976 (Ader study, Palais Galliera, November 29, 1976, lot 113 then Geneva, May 14, 1977, lot 384) An exhibition of a loan of 75 pieces of the service was opened at the Petit Trianon in July 2023.