The revolutionary Cup

Delivered by the manufacture of Sèvres to Cambaceres in 1794.

SÈVRES. Rare and important CUP " LITRON " and its saucer,

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first size, in soft porcelain, with a beautiful blue background on which stands out a very rich decoration of four oval medallions decorated with revolutionary and Masonic symbols (lictor's beam, Phrygian cap, level) surrounded by gold fillets, friezes of pearls, and gold stylized foliated friezes.
On the lower part of the cup, a frieze of laurel is placed between two friezes of pearls and gold fillets. On the upper edge of the cup, a tricolor ribbon stands out on a hatched background.
The very rich decoration of the cup is found on the under-cup with different symbols: crossed spades, open science book with a spade, eye, and reflective mirror.

Brand: RF Sèvres
Mark of the painter Guillaume Noël (active at the Sèvres factory between 1755 and 1804)
Gold 2000 mark of the gilder Henry François Vincent dit le jeune (active between 1753 and 1806)

1794

Height 6,8 cm ;
Diam. saucer: 13,5 cm
Excellent state of preservation and very nice quality.

Provenance:
- Collection Edouard Chappey, sale of his collection by masters Paul Chevalier and Fernand Lair-Dubreuil, Paris May 29, 1907, lot 1177.
- Ancienne collection Franck, sale of his collection organized by masters Jean-Paul Couturier and Raymond de Nicolay, Porcelaines et faïences à décors patriotiques " Révolutionnaires ", Paris March 26, 1987, lot 83, sold for 43,000 francs.

Important "litron" cup and saucer, by the painter Guillaume Noël. Rare and rich decoration in Sèvres during the revolutionary period in 1794.

Other models:
- Very close model preserved in the Carnavalet museum, Paris. It is from this model that the Raynaud et Cie manufacture in Limoges has produced a commemorative re-edition, the "Cup of Light", under the patronage of the Friends of the Carnavalet Museum.
- A "litron" cup and its saucer with a beautiful blue background, third size, made in 1794, are kept in the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia (inv. N°3F 20569; entered in 1918, former collection A.S. D Dolgorukov of Petrograd.).

Sevres during the Revolution

Symbol par excellence of the Ancien Régime, the Royal Porcelain Manufactory lost its prestigious clientele during the Revolution. However, the manufactory never closes its doors, but its workers are partially paid or not.

The factory remained the property of the king until the foundation of the Republic in August 1792 and was placed under the control of the Ministry of Public Contributions.
In 1793, the Minister of the Interior, Dominique-Joseph Garat, ordered the destruction of the moulds and models related to the royal family.

The director Antoine Régnier had the brand changed: the interlaced letters were replaced by the initials "R.F." of the French Republic and "Sèvres" was then written in full.
The production is strongly slowed down. Starting in 1793, a limited production of pieces decorated with revolutionary and Masonic symbols was launched.

The richness of the decoration and some of the ornaments of our cup, such as the friezes of pearls, directly evoke the prestigious royal services "rich in color and rich in gold" made in 1784; the first offered by King Louis XVI to King Gustav III of Sweden, the second made for Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Exceptional iconography

Our cup is distinguished by the high quality of the decoration and its rich revolutionary and Masonic iconography: the laurel of glory, the lictory bundle represents the union and strength of French citizens, the Phrygian cap embodies freedom, the level with a plumb line symbolizing renewal, the eye of Providence, the book of science saved by the spade; the mirror emblem of self-knowledge and the crossed spades.

Most of the symbols are borrowed from Freemasonry, a secret society introduced in France by the English in 1725. Without being anti-Catholic, it criticizes all religions and the philosophy of the "Enlightenment". Let's not forget that "Liberty - Fraternity - Equality" before becoming a republican motto was already at the beginning of the 18th century the rule of the Freemasons."

A Mysterious Buyer

The 14 thermidor year II (August 1st, 1794), the painter Noël and the gilder Vincent deliver: "4 litter cups of 2(eme) g(eme) g(randeur) beautiful blue, frize and allegories". Our cup was most probably part of this delivery.

Although the archives of the Sèvres porcelain factory do not allow us to identify the purchaser, the opulence of the decoration and the iconography of our cup indicate that the recipient of these objects of a rare insignia could only have been an ardent revolutionary and a committed freemason. Tradition suggests a person as important as Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (1753-1824).

The 'Cup of Light' a commemorative reproduction realized in Limoges.

A reproduction in hard porcelain of Limoges edited for the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the French Revolution is attached.

Commémorations Limited commissioned André Raynaud, master porcelain maker from Limoges, to produce the reproduction scrupulously down to the smallest detail under the high patronage of the Friends of the Carnavalet Museum with the agreement of the Manufacture de Sèvres.

Manufacture Raynaud et Cie, Limoges
Commissioned by the Friends of the Carnival Museum. Height 6, 7 cm

Reissue of the "Cup of Light" in conformity with the original created at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres in 1794. Reproduction under the high patronage of the Friends of the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, custodian of the only known original. Commemorations Limited. Made in Limoges, France.

On the 1st floral Year II (April 20, 1794), at the height of the Revolutionary Terror, the Manufacture of Sèvres entrusted the painter Guillaume Noël with "4 cups and saucers, 2nd size, allegorical frieze". The price was agreed to be 48 pounds, a considerable sum for the time. Eight months later, at the end of the frimaire Year III, the register of works bears the mention: "rendered 4 cups painted in very rich gilded allegories". Thus was born the "Cup of Light".