18th Century Vincennes Porcelain 'Clam' dish fetches 20 times estimate

A piece of French royal porcelain surfaced at Wimbledon Auctions in south London on May 28th where it made some 20 times the estimate. Discovered in a property local to Wimbledon Auctions saleroom in SW18, the shell shaped Vincennes dish from c.1757 featuring the bleu céleste ground colour drew strong interest from both private collectors and trade. 

The price including buyers premium was £7,440. 

The dish with a central painted floral spray and gilt detailing is painted in the rich turquoise ground colour known as bleu céleste (heavenly blue), introduced for Louis XV’s dinner service by chemist Jean Hellot (1685-1766) at the end of 1753. The service also introduced new shapes designed specifically for the royal household by goldsmith Jean-Claude Duplessis (1730-83).

The notoriously expensive ground colour, which was made from a mixture of copper and cobalt, remained in use until the end of the ancien regime and was much-reproduced later. This dish includes the Sèvres date mark D inside the typical interlaced Ls, dating it to 1757 and the painter’s marks for either Henry-Joseph Mongenot or Michel Socquet, both of whom worked at the Sèvres porcelain factory from around 1754 onwards.

Auctioneer Felix Turner remarked '“Multiple French private collectors competed for the dish, but it sold to UK trade.”