Shown here are examples of pre-empted lots from two recent sales. On September 25 at Drouot, in the first instalment of a sale held by Daguerre (30% buyer’s premium) of a collection of items from an unnamed residence, two consecutive lots each contained 24 Louis Philippe period, c.1845, Sèvres floral decorated plates from the Service de Trianon.
They were secured by the Château of Versailles for €14,000 (£12,730) and €15,000 (£13,365).
Plates go to Louvre
A sale held by Coutau-Bégarie (24% buyer’s premium) at Drouot on October 6 offered two 8in (20cm) diameter late 16th century Limoges enamel plates decorated by Jean Limosin with portraits of Roman emperors each signed IL to the reverse.
Limoges enamel plate decorated with a portrait of the Emperor Vitellius – €88,000 (£80,000) at Coutau-Bégarie. Image copyright: Coutau-Bégarie/Drouot.
Both dishes were part of a set of 12 decorated in polychrome and translucent enamels with equestrian portraits of Emperors based on engravings by Crispijn de Passe the elder after Jean Van der Straet.
The Louvre Museum stepped in to pre-empt one of them portraying the Emperor Vitellius, identified via an inscription to the border at €88,000 (£80,000). The other portrait dish, with an inscription around the border for the Emperor Vespasian, sold for €110,000 (£100,000).
