TABLEWARE WITH POLYCHROME DECORATION PRESENTED IN WHITE RESE - Lot 324

TABLEWARE WITH POLYCHROME DECORATION PRESENTED IN WHITE RESERVES POWDERED WITH SUGAR. Attributed to a workshop of cannamelists, confectioners and illustrators, delivered by Bazin, the king's earthenware merchant. Paris, second half of the 18th century. The back bears the label of Bazin, marchand faïencier du roi, at Hôtel de Lisieux, rue des Fossés Saint-Germain-L'Auxerrois. The label indicates that he "holds stores and warehouses for porcelain from Sèvre, Chantilly, the Indies & all other Porcelain Manufactures; earthenware of all kinds; Bohemian & English crystals; ice trays for desserts; figures and artificial flowers for table decorations...". In addition to silver and porcelain models, ephemeral sugar, pastillage, painted cardboard or colored sand tops were used for desserts, to be modified to suit the occasion. Menon and Gilliers' treatises on confectionery emphasize the use of sugar mounts - rocks, temples, obelisks or miniature gardens - set in the middle of the table. In the book Le goût de l'or blanc, the chapter "Quand le sucre se transforme en chef-d'œuvre : des confiseurs marchands d'art" (When sugar becomes a masterpiece: confectioners as art merchants) shows how much the confectioners of the XVIIIᵉ century are perceived as veritable creators of ephemeral objets d'art, playing on the translucence and brilliance of sugar to rival goldsmiths and porcelain. With its rocaille vocabulary, its small landscapes of gardens, factories and harbors, without arms or monograms, the ensemble evokes a pastoral, gallant universe rather than an official event. It seems to have been designed for an intimate party - perhaps a birthday or family celebration - in a circle close to the court, and delivered by the earthenware merchant Bazin, a regular supplier to the King's household. The grainy white background, now slightly matte, is obtained using candy sugar or fine crystals fixed on a layer of glue or gum. This glittering effect evokes the "sand paintings" or marmotinto made in the XVIIIᵉ century from powders of sand, sugar or marble, often displayed on dessert tables. Delivered by the earthenware merchant Bazin, supplier to the Maison du Roi and several princes, this especially illustrates the close collaboration between earthenware merchants, confectioners and maîtres d'hôtel in the refined ordering of Parisian tables in the XVIIIᵉ century. Bibliography - Joseph Gilliers, Le Cannameliste français ou Nouvelle instruction pour ceux qui désirent d'apprendre l'office, Lunéville, 1751, illustrated ed. with plates of table tops, pp. 240-243. - Jopeph Menon, La science du maître d'hôtel confiseur, Paris, 1750, pp. 493-494. Maud Villeret, Nicolas. Coquery (dir.), Le goût de l'or blanc. Le sucre en France au XVIIIᵉ siècle, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, in particular chap. " Les détaillants, aiguillons de la tentation sucrée". Stépane Castelluccio, "Lemaire et Branlard, marchands faïenciers du roi", Versailles. Revue de l'Histoire de Versailles et de Seine-et-Oise, 2014. (stains, some wear) Total length: 334 Width: 66 cm Two similarly decorated rectangular panels from the same period are included. Each panel: Length: 48 Width: 66 cm Total unfolded length: 430 cm