A Sèvres bleu-lapis ground milk jug and cover (Pot à lait Hébert), circa 1758

Painted by Vincent Taillandier with thick spiralling blue-ground ribbons edged with two parallel gilt bands enclosing stylised floral elements, alternated with a white ground set with polychrome trails of flowers, applied diagonally over pot and cover, the cover with a small yellow carnation finial, the interlacing handle picked out in gilding, 13.5cm high interlaced LL monogram in blue enclosing date letter E for 1758, painter's mark for Taillandier (finial restuck) (2)

Provenance:
Property from the Collection of Dr. Johannes Ralph Lafrenz

Another pot à lait Hébert of a similar costly type of decoration but with more common green alternating bands is in the Royal Collections (See: G. de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Vol. III, cat.no. 257). Here the author notes that the earliest reference to ribbon decoration, dated 1757, occur in the sales' ledger and in Lazare Duvaux's Livre-Journal. In that and the following year a number of pieces were sold which were painted with ribbons coloured in bleu lapis, bleu céleste and rose and, most often, green ground colours.

Vincent Taillandier was working at the factory as a painter of flowers and ground patterns from 1753 to 1790 (See: D. Peters, Sèvres plates and services of the 18th century, Vol. I)

Another pot à lait Hébert with a bleu-celeste ground was sold at Christie's Paris, 6 December 2001, lot 169.