{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O280140"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280140/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK4458/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK4458/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BK4458","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GX3988","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GX3989","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN4770","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN4655","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O280140/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O280140","accessionNumber":"C.124:35-1979","objectType":"Plate","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This plate is one of 72 that were comissioned with views of Egypt as part of the Sèvres Egyptian Service 1810-12, one of the greatest examples of French porcelain to survive from the Empire period. Comprising of elaborate dinnerwares and architectural centrepieces, the service was commissioned by the Empress Josephine, partly as a divorce present from  Napoleon, but rejected as too severe. The service, then valued at 36,300  francs, remained at the factory until 1818 when it was given by Louis XVIII to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) for his assistance in helping to restore the Bourbon monarchy. The remaining service today is displayed at Apsley House, London.\n\nThe plates' views are from illustrations by Vivant Denon (1747-1825) for the published description of his journey to Egypt during Bonaparte's 1798 campaign,  <i>Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte</i> (1802). Denon was an artist, curator and author who worked in Italy and France and was Napoleon's Minister of Arts and first director of the Musée Napoléon (Louvre) (1802-15).  In 1786 Denon had sold a number of classical and Etruscan vases from his private collection to Louis XVI which were added to the Sèvres factory reference collection. These vases and Denon's publication provided the inspiration for two editions of this Sèvres service. The first Egyptian service was given by Napoleon to Alexander I of  Russia in 1808 (today housed in the The State Museum of Ceramics, Kuscovo, Russia).\n\nThis plate entitled \"Statues dites de Memnon\" has a central scene of the statue  of Amenhotep III at Luxor, taken from Denon's published prints. The scene was painted by J.-F.-J. Swebach Desfontaines (1769-1823) at Sèvres, his signature painted on the lower left of the image. The gilding was by Micaud fils and the borders designed by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart (1739-1813), architect and father of Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847) Director of the Sèvres factory when the service was produced.","physicalDescription":"Plate made from hard-paste porcelain, painted and gilt. The central reserve is painted in emamels with a landscape showing the statue of Amenhotep III at Luxor. The border is painted with a blue ground and gilded design of stylised eagles.\r\nSevres porcelain, Egyptian Service; Statues dites de Memnon","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Dominique Vivant Denon","id":"A18138"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"Creator of original illustrations used for the 'Egyptian Service'"},{"name":{"text":"Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart","id":"AUTH316736"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Jacques François Joseph Swebach","id":"A5328"},"association":{"text":"painter","id":"x36959"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Pierre-Louis Micaud fils","id":"AUTH324794"},"association":{"text":"gilder","id":"x39171"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Sèvres porcelain factory","id":"A406"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Porcelain","id":"AAT10662"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Painted","id":"x30138"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Porcelain, painted and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Images Online","id":"THES48937"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"}],"styles":[{"text":"Neo-classicism","id":"x38958"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006BK4458","2014GX3988","2014GX3989","2017KN4770","2017KN4655"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"1","id":"THES263059"},"free":"","case":"CA7","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plate","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Sèvres","id":"x29522"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1810-1812","earliest":"1810-01-01","latest":"1812-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"24","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'de Sevres / 1811. / V.D.' printed in red on the reverse","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"'Statues dites de Memnon.' painted in black on the reverse.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"'28 . j . v' painted in green on the reverse","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"'9 J' incised on the reverse","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"'M' or '1' 'avril 15 av 31 av' in gold on reverse","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"'Swebach' signature painted on front lower left of the central scene. ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"The service was originally made for Empress Josephine partly as a divorce present from Emperor Napoleon. Josephine was involved with the commission but eventually lost patience with the time taken to produce the set and though delivered to Château Malmaison on 1 April 1812 the service was rejected as the design was considered too severe. On return to the Sèvres factory the service included 72 plates with Egyptian scenes  but when the service was given by Louis XVIII to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington  (1769-1852) in 1818 for his assistance in helping to restore the  Bourbon monarchy, only 66 of these plates were accounted for. Ten plates in total (including four extras) had therefore been dispersed or lost (Musée national d Céramique, Sèvres MNC.1800 and 21630 - one of the extra plates, MNC.26308 - one of the missing plates from the service, also BM M&amp;ME 1993,6-10,1 - possibly a trial plate). \nUntil 1979 the surviving service remained with the Dukes of Wellington when it was acquired by the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum. Today one plate C.124:34-1979 is displayed at the V&amp;A, the remaining service is on loan to English Heritage and displayed at Apsley House, London.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Plate from the 'Egyptian Service', hard-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt, showing the statue of Amenhotep III at Luxor, made at the Sèvres porcelain factory, France, 1810-12.\r\nSevres porcelain, Egyptian Service; Statues dites de Memnon","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"D-V. Denon, Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte (London, M. Peltier, 1802)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Truman, Charles, The Sèvres Egyptian service, 1810-12,  Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Original preparatory drawings\r\nBM P&D 1836,0109.57 \r\nStatues dites de Memnon, one of two studies for Plate 44 of the artist's 'Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, pendant les campagnes du Général Bonaparte', 1802; the colossi of Memnon (statues of Amenhotep III) , viewed in profile to left and right. Pen and grey ink, grey wash."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Comparable example\r\nBM M&ME 1993,6-10,1 \r\nSèvres porcelain plate showing the Temple of Contra Latopolis (modern Esna), painted by Jacques-François Swebach-Desfontaines (1769-1823)\r\nSèvres factory, Sèvres, France, AD 1811\r\n\r\nReferenced in;\r\nA. Dawson, A catalogue of French porcelain, revised paperback edition (London, The British Museum Press, 2000)\r\n\r\nVersailles et les tables royal, exh. cat. (Palais de Versailles, 1993)\r\n\r\nD. Ostergard (ed.), The Sèvres Porcelain Manufacto (Published for The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1997)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jean-Marcel HUMBERT, Egyptomania, National Gallery of Canada, 1994, pp.227-237"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Luxor","id":"x40874"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"statue","id":"AAT47600"},{"text":"camels","id":"x30284"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Label for 'American and European Art and Design 1800-1900', Gallery 101, de-canted March  2017:\n\n'8\nPlate from the 'Egyptian Service'\n1810-12\n\nThis plate comes from a service ordered by the Empress Josephine just before her divorce in 1809. The service was painted with Egyptian antiquities, based on illustrations by Dominique Vivant Denon, who had travelled to Egypt with Napoleon's military campaign. In 1818 Louis XVIII of France gave the service to the Duke of Wellington.\n\nFrance, Sèrvres; made at the Sèvres porcelain factory; borders designed by A.-T. Brognairt; central painting of the statue of Amenhotep III at Luxor by J.-F.-J. Swebach Desfontaines\nHard-past porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt\n\nMuseum no. C.124;35-1979'","date":{"text":"08/06/2017","earliest":"2017-06-08","latest":"2017-06-08"}},{"text":"Plate \n1810-12\n\nThis plate shows the statue of Amenhotep III at Luxor. It is one of 72 plates painted with Egyptian scenes that formed part of the Egyptian Service produced by Sèvres. The service, which included an architectural centrepiece over six metres long, was commissioned by Napoleon as a present to Josephine, when he divorced her to marry an Austrian princess. It was rejected by her as too severe.\n\nFrance (Paris)\r\nMade at the Sèvres factory\r\nPainted by Jacques-François-Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines after an illustration by Dominique-Vivant Denon\r\nBorder designed by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart\r\nPorcelain painted in enamels and gilded","date":{"text":"09/12/2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}},{"text":"PLATE\r\nSévres Porcelain Factory\r\nManufacturer\r\nA.-T. Brongniart (1739-1813)\r\nDesigner of borders\r\nJ.-F.J. Swebach Desfontaines (1769-1823)\r\nPainter\r\nParis (Sèvres): 1810-1812\r\nPorcelain, painted and gilt\r\n\r\nC.124/35-1979\r\n\r\nThis plate is from an Egyptian service ordered by the Empress Jospehine, partly as a divorce present from Napoleon, but rejected as too severe. In 1818 the service, gilded by Micaud  <I>fils </I> and valued a 36,300 francs, was given by Louis XVIII to Wellington: the remainder is at Apsley House. The plate scenes, as on a first Egyptian service given by Napoleon to Alexander I of Russia in 1808, are from illustrations by Vivant Denon (1747-1825) to his 1802 description of his journey to Egypt during Bonaparte's 1798 campaign. This one is entitled \"Statues dites de Memnon\".","date":{"text":"1987-2006","earliest":"1987-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}},{"text":"Plate from the 'Egyptian Service'\r\n1810-12\r\nThis plate comes from a service ordered by the Empress Josephine just before her divorce in 1809. The service was painted with Egyptian antiquities, based on illustrations by Dominique Vivant Denon, who had travelled to Egypt with Napoleon's miliary campaign. In 1818 Louis XVIII of France gave the service to the Duke of Wellington.\r\n\r\nFrance, Sèvres; made at the Sèvres porcelain factory, designed by A.-T.Brogniart; central painting of the statue of Amenhotep III at Luxor by J.-F.-J. Swebach Desfontaines; Hard-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt\r\nMuseum no. C.124:35-1979","date":{"text":"2006-","earliest":"2006-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["C.124:35-1979"],"accessionNumberNum":"124","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1979,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LM9523","2019LU9504","2019LW9624"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-11","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}