Five Sèvres green-ground plates (assiette à palmes) from the service for the comte de Choiseul, circa 1759Property from Crewe Hall (lots 155 - 163)Five Sèvres green-ground plates (assiette à palmes) from the service for the comte de Choiseul, circa 1759The rims moulded with scrolls and reserved with three oval panels painted with vignettes of birds in landscapes within gilt floral scrollwork cartouches, the wells painted with fruit and flowers, 24.5cm diam., two with interlaced LL monograms enclosing date letter f for 1759, one with incised mark (some wear) (5)Provenance:Supplied to M Le Comte De Choiseul, most likely César-Gabriel, comte de Choiseul-Chevigny, later duc de Choiseul-Praslin, on 16 May 1759;Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe, FSA FRS (1812-1894), Crewe Hall, Cheshire;Thence by descentThe service described as verd ois[eaux] Et fleurs included 72 plates at a cost of 48 livres each; see David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century (2005, revised edition 2015), II, pp.317f, no. 59-1.César-Gabriel, comte de Choiseul-Chevigny (1712-1785), was the cousin of Étienne François, the duc de Choiseul-Stainville (1719-1785), and the ambassador to Austria between 1759 and 1761. From 1761 to 1766 he replaced his cousin as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and between 1766 and 1770 filled the role of Secretary of State for the Navy, when his cousin Étienne returned to his role in the department of Foreign Affairs. After their protector, Madame de Pompadour, died in 1764, the positions of the Choiseul cousins started wavering and César-Gabriel subsequently withdrew from public service in 1770.