A Sèvres gold-ground plate with classical figures painted by Drolling, circa 1804-1805

Depicting a classical scene of Cupid and a woman in a landscape, painted by Martin Drolling, signed l.r., the rim with a burnished gilt border finely tooled with a scale pattern, 23.3cm diam., 'de Sevres/^' in iron-red, incised II and cc

Martin Drolling or Drölling (1752-1817) was a French portrait and genre painter who also worked as a painter at the Sèvres manufactory between 1802 and 1813, where he worked on pieces such as the 'marli d'or' service (see T.Préaud, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory - Alexandre Brongiart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847 (1997), p. 143).

Drolling first studied painting under a smaller artist in Sélestat, but eventually moved to Paris and finished his training at the academy. His works were popular during his lifetime and many were published and popularised as engravings. Several of his paintings are now in the collection of the Louvre.