The Louis XVI Service: Sevres Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (Sevres Porcelain in the Collection of HM The Queen)

The Sèvres porcelain in the Royal Collection ranks as the finest in the world. This volume, the first of a three-volume catalogue of the Sèvres belonging to Her Majesty The Queen, is devoted exclusively to the Louis XVI service. The service was commissioned by Louis XVI in 1783, but was still only half-completed at the time of the King's execution ten years later. The bulk of the service was acquired by George IV in 1811 and thus passed into the Royal Collection, housed at Windsor Castle. The Louis XVI service was the most expensive service of soft-paste porcelain ever produced at Sèvres in the eighteenth century. Because of its exceptional character it has been possible to reconstitute the history of its manufacture and to establish the precise contributions of the artists involved. A major part of the catalogue is devoted to the identification of the sources which served as models for the scenes drawn from antiquity and mythology reproduced in the reserves.De Bellaigue, Geoffrey is the author of 'The Louis XVI Service: Sevres Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (Sevres Porcelain in the Collection of HM The Queen)', published 1986 under ISBN 9780521266376 and ISBN 0521266378.