Dine like a King
If you think your home is full when your family visits for a Sunday walk and a dinner, think about King Louis Philippe, who reigned over France between 1830 and 1848. In the end he was forced to flee to London due to the popular resistance that would result in the 1848 Revolution. But before that time, he spent many good days at the Fontainebleau palace outside Paris, relaxing for the weekend, entertaining friends and going on big hunting parties in the surrounding woods.
There could be hunting parties of hundreds of people, and they needed to be fed afterwards. So the King commissioned a massive dessert service with the Sèvres factory: the "Royal Hunting Service". It was made in 1846 and 1847, and probably eventually sold off when France stopped being a monarchy and many nobles had to sell all their possessions.
Today, there are various parts of this hunting service around, and each forms a small dessert service by itself, perfect for today's more modest sized dinner parties.
Today I have a wonderful set serving 12 on offer, with three spectacular comports set in richly decorated ormulu stands. And the plates themselves are wonderful; the detail never ends. Hounds, boar, deer, birds of prey, pheasants, snakes... all set in meandering foliage and scrolls with beautiful autumnal colours. The whole set is also beautifully gilded. The ormulu comport stands are stunning too, with scrolled feet and festoons of succulent vines.
Have a look at this magnificent service... I know it is a little outside my usual offering of English porcelain, but you know I love dessert services and I could not resist! The whole service is in near-perfect condition and excellent for use. So do you want to dine like a King? You can!
Where to find things
You can you can find all dessert services here, and you can find all my available items here. If you want to stay up to date with new additions, find me on Instagram, where I put up pictures with a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and dine like a King! 👑🐕🦌🐇👑
This week's new treasures:
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