hand painted floral and pastoral trophies, gilt sprigs of wheat in relief, Sevres style marks likely spurious, based upon the 18th century examples in the F.O. Matthiessen Collection at the Metropolitan Museum Art, 14-1/8 x 16-3/8 in. Note: Sevres’ prestige was such that the French court began gifting Sevres’ innovative designs as diplomatic gifts. In 1777, two tureens were gifted to Joseph II, Regent of the Holy Roman Empire, who was visiting Paris under the pseudonym Court Falkenstein. These tureens were decorated with gilt wheat sprigs in relief. Sevres’ records also state that Louis XVI later acquired tureens of a similar design. And later “In 1784 two tureens almost identical to the Falkenstein tureens were presented to Gustav III of Sweden (one of them now being at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.)” See Literature: Liana Paredes, Sevres The And Now: Tradition and Innovation in Porcelain, 1750-2000, Hillwood Museum and Gardens Foundation in association with D. Giles Ltd., London, 2009, pages 39, 40, 41, 144, ill. Almost identical example can be found at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The F.O. Matthiessen Collection, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/188877 Provenance: Private Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma chips to detail on legs, cracks and repairs to all four legs, scattered chips, cracks and hairline cracks throughout, firing anomalies around handles, gilt loss and gilt retouch, paint loss