Provenance: By repute, purchased by the vendor from Chancellors Auctions, Kingston, over thirty years ago, possibly from a Hampton Court ‘grace and favour’ apartment clearance.
Note: This remarkable Catherine the Great Sèvres porcelain coffee can and saucer, presents a rare opportunity for collectors. This piece hails from the famed Service aux Camées, an extravagant commission by Catherine the Great in 1776, comprising dinner, dessert, tea, and coffee services for 60 people. Known as the most costly service ever produced by Sèvres, its lengthy payment schedule nearly crippled the factory. While 300 services were initially created, only 48 met the exacting standards for use. The example offered by Duke’s exhibits a firing fault, placing it outside this select group but actually making it even more desirable to avid porcelain collectors.
Many items in the collection were sourced through auctioneers specialising in clearances from Hampton Court flats, once home to numerous international dignitaries. Indicating the important provenance and rarity of such items, in 2007 a comparable piece fetched $85,000 at Christies, New York (Lot 359), doubling its pre-sale estimate.
