GALERIE NICOLAS FOURNERY

A Chinese armorial cup for the French market (Cossé-Brissac / Mancini-Mazarini). Qianlong

The cup decorated in the famille rose palette with a garland of flowers and the coat of the duc de Brissac, De sable à trois fasces d’or denchées par le bas, and Mancini-Mazarini, Ecartelé: aux 1 et 4 d’azur, à la hache d’armes d’argent, au milieu d’un faisceau d’or, lié d’argent, posé en pal, une fasce de gueules brochant sur le tout, et chargée de trois étoiles d’or (Mazarini) ; aux 2 et 3, d’azur, à deux poissons d’argent, posés en pal (Mancini).

Country:
China
Period :
Qianlong (1735-1795),, circa 1760
Material:
Porcelain
Dimension:
2.36 in. (6.5 cm)
Reference :
E420
Status:
sold

Related works

Another cup from this order is in a private French collection.

Notice

This cup derives from a tea service ordered by Louis Hercule Timoléon de Cossé, the 8th Duke of Brissac. Born in Paris on February 14, 1734, he was assassinated in Versailles on September 9, 1792. He held the titles of Pair and Grand Panetier of France, Captain-Colonel of the Swiss Guards of the King, and Marshal of Camp in 1780, ultimately serving as the Governor of Paris from 1771 to 1791. He was a knight of his orders. A significant figure at the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI, he was the son of Jean Paul Timoléon de Cossé, Grand Panetier and Governor of Paris under Louis XV, and Marie Josèphe Durey de Sauroy. During the reign of Louis XVI, he ranked among the wealthiest individuals in the Kingdom of France

He initially served as captain of dragoons in the Caraman regiment, and then became guidon of the Aquitaine gendarmes starting in 1754. In 1759, he was appointed master of camp of the Burgundy cavalry regiment, before rising to the position of captain commanding the Swiss Guards of the King. Following his father’s resignation on February 19, 1775, he became the Governor of Paris. He was also named chief commander of the constitutional guard of King Louis XVI. This guard was established by the Constitution of 1791, which assigned to the king a protection force consisting of 1,800 men permitted to be directly recruited from the line troops and national guards who had sworn civic oaths. The Duke of Brissac was accused of introducing a counter-revolutionary spirit within this guard, thus posing a threat to the safety of the state. In truth, the Duke of Brissac was fundamentally opposed to emigration and did not allow any émigrés within the Guard, nor did he encourage any aspirations for emigration among those around him.

The commander of the constitutional guard was arrested without Louis XVI being able to intervene, as the transfer to the High Court was not subject to his sanction. Imprisoned in Orléans while awaiting trial, the Duke of Brissac was later transferred to Versailles with other detainees, including Arnaud de Laporte, the former steward to the king. During this deliberately orchestrated transfer, the prisoners, several of whom had been expressly threatened with death by their guards, were detained at Versailles, forced into the Orangerie of the château, and massacred on September 9, 1792, not by the inhabitants of Versailles but by members of the escort. A man of great strength and courage, he resisted his assassins for a prolonged period, sustained multiple injuries, and was ultimately killed by a sword blow. His corpse was mutilated and dismembered.

His heart was ripped from his body and paraded through the streets of Versailles, while his bloodied head was thrown from outside into the salon of the Countess du Barry, his mistress, in Louveciennes. He was buried on September 9, 1792, at the Saint-Louis Cemetery in Versailles. An intellectual and a member of the society of the “Lanturelus” formed by Marie-Thérèse de la Ferté-Imbault, he was both a bibliophile and an art enthusiast, with a collection in his Parisian residence that featured numerous masterworks by Dutch painters.

In 1760, he married Diane Hortense Mancini-Mazarini (1742-1808), the great-niece of Cardinal Mazarin. She served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette of Austria from 1771 to 1775. She is known for reducing the queen’s wardrobe expenses and restoring order to her finances, although her efforts were ultimately undermined by those who succeeded her. Diane was the daughter of Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini (1716-1798), Duke of Nevers, and Hélène-Françoise-Angélique Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain (1715-1782). Her father, who possessed the second largest fortune in France, was a friend of Louis XV and a lavish host to the political, literary, and scientific figures of the 18th century.

Through her mother, Diane Hortense Mancini-Mazarini (nicknamed Mancinette) is connected to Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas and Pontchartrain, the Secretary of State for the Navy, of whom she is the universal legatee.

In 1772, the Duke of Brissac acquired the grand and petit hôtels of Villars from the Marquis of Vogüe. Following their seizure during the Revolution, his art objects were transferred to the Louvre, and his books to the National Library. He consistently distinguished himself through his dedication to Louis XVI, responding to someone who expressed great admiration for his conduct with the words, “I only do what I owe to his ancestors and to mine.”

By appointment only, 10th arrondissement, Paris.
nf@galerienicolasfournery.fr / +33 (0)6 26 57 59 87

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