A SÈVRES PLATE FROM THE 'SERVICE ICONOGRAPHIQUE GREC' 1812

the center with a shaded dark brown-ground roundel painted with a 'cameo' portrait of DIANE titled below within  the matte and burnished gold S-scroll patterned surround, the rim with a bleu lapisse en or ground within a gilt scroll and band border on the edge, partially effaced M. Imp^{le de Sevres mark and 1812 printed in red, 28.j.v painted in green, various letters and numerals in gold, incised script T and numeral 6.}

William Cowper Prime, New York
By direct descent within the family to the present owner

Generally good condition apart from an extremely minor 2-cm scratch to the brown ground left of her shoulder.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The 'Service Iconographique Grec' is arguably the most lavish and aesthetically successful of all the early 19^th Century services produced at Sèvres. It was produced as two identical dessert services: the first completed was completed in 1811 and presented on July 13^th of that year to Cardinal Fesch on the occasion of the baptism of the King of Rome (Napoléon II. son of Napoléon I and Marie-Louise). Referred to as the 'Service à Camées', its 82 component pieces are discussed by Pierre Verlet, Les Grands Services de Sèvres, the catalogue of a 1951 exhibition at the Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres, p. 48, no. 23.

The second service, to which the present group of four plates belong, was produced between 1812 and 1817, and was named after its principal source of decoration: the Iconographique ancienne ou recueil des portraits authentique des empereurs, rois et hommes illustres de l'Antiquité by Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751-1818). Originally conceived as a dinner and dessert service, the estimated expense of such an undertaking reduced the final number of pieces produced to 122 dessert wares, of which seventy-two were cameo-decorated plates. The service was entered into the factory's saleroom register on May19^th, 1817 but was displayed In the Sèvres annual exhibition at the Louvre in January of 1818, and it was not until September of 1819 that the service actually left the factory's stock, when it was delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for presentation to Pope Pius VII.

It is not known when, how or why the 'Service Iconographique Grec' left the papal collections, but by 1888 over half of the service had been transported to Philadelphia and was being offered for sale at the Walnut Street shop of James B. Pooley. That same year 66 pieces of the service were purchased from Mr. Pooley by Mr. William Weightman of Philadelphia, remaining within that family into the 20th Century when portions of it began to be disseminated.

William Cowper Prime (1825-1905) was was an art historian, journalist and writer.  He received a law degree from Princeton University (known at the time as the College of New Jersey) in 1843 and practiced law umtil 1853. In 1861 he became the editor for the New York Journal of Commerce while also serving as president of the Associated Press. He travelled throughout North Africa and the Near East, and formed a number of collections that included coins, woodcuts and porcelain. In addition to a number of travel books, Cowper also wrote Coins, Medals and Seals, Ancient and Modern (1861) and Pottery and Porcelain of all Times and Nations (1878), reflecting his collecting interests. Through these collections and his general interest in the arts he developed a close relationship with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a trustee and vice-president of the museum.  In 1884 Prime was appointed a full professor of art history at Princeton, after being instrumental in the formation of that department at the University.

A plate depicting Pericles, formerly in the Weightman Collection was sold in these rooms on October 11, 1995, lot 320; and a further eighteen plates and a covered sucrier and stand from the  collection of William Weightman's great-granddaughter were sold also in these rooms on October 15, 1996, lots 506-517. The present group of four plates, having been retained in the Prime family since its acquistion in the 19th century, suggests that James Pooley may originally have had more pieces from the service than the 66 pieces sold to William Weightman in 1888, which he sold to other customers, including William Cowper Prime, or possibly that there was another, still unknown, source in the United States or abroad in the 19th century for portions of this service.