Object Description
A large pair of Sevres style Napoleonic painted porcelain chargers
French, 19th Century
2cm high x 45cm in diameter, frames 51cm diameter
Excellently painted and finely crafted, these unusually grand Sevres style painted porcelain chargers are adorned with scenes of French military victories. The first charger, marked ‘Bataille de Wagram, 7 Juillet 1809’ is after a painting by Horace Vernet of Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram, a decisive yet costly victory for the French allied forced over the Austrian army, and the second, after a painting by Francois Bouchot, depicts the Battle of Zurich (the charger is marked ‘Bataille de Zurich 25 Septembre 1799’) an earlier battle in which the Republican French army led by André Masséna triumphed over an Austrian and Russian force in Switzerland in 1799.
The works are each clasped with a gilt tooled border, and larger pink rose pompadour rims, and a subsequent larger gilt bronze border around those. Painted blue marks on the back indicate the maker, and this fine pair, with two historic French military victories around the turn of the nineteenth century, are excellent examples of the beauty of Sevres style painted porcelain.