Object Description
This exquisite antique porcelain plate was crafted in the style of the famous Sevres Porcelain Manufactory and depicts King Louis XVI of France. The portrait shows the king wearing a powdered wig and a sumptuous ermine-collared cloak, and is likely to have been painted after a full-length portrait by Antoine-Francois Callet (1741-1823), which is now held in Madrid, Spain, at the Prado museum. Callet was the official portrait painter to Louis XVI.
The portrait is surrounded by a band of gilt laurel leaves and features a rim decorated with a turquoise ground called ‘bleu celeste’ which was pioneered by the Sevres Manufactory. The portrait is titled ‘LOUIS XVI’ and signed ‘Pepin / apres Rigaud’ and is impressed to the underside with the interlace ‘L’ mark for the Sevres Manufactory.