18th century Sèvres porcelain litron cup

A soft paste cup and saucer decorated with flowers and fruits in reserves on a lapis blue background with gold highlights.
The cup and the saucer are marked on the reverse side with the two crossed L of the Royal Manufacture of Sevres, the date GG (1784) and the decorator Jean-Jacques Pierre dit Pierre Le Jeune (painter of flowers active between 1763 and 1800).
Height cup 6,6 cm
Saucer diameter 13 cm


The Sèvres Porcelain Factory is the largest, most prestigious and best known of the French factories. It was created under a very modern form, called at the time "Company", which we would call today "Société en Participation", in which the King himself had shares. This factory, still in activity today, was the display cabinet of the French know-how and refinement.

- Soft porcelain: translucent paste developed in the various French factories (Chantilly, Saint Cloud, Mennecy, Vincennes, Sèvres) to compete with Chinese porcelain based on kaolin, a secret that the French only discovered in 1778. We therefore speak of soft paste (without kaolin) as opposed to hard paste (porcelain).
- Litron: name given to cups, straight and cylindrical, intended exclusively for drinking coffee.