First produced in 1752, the gobelet litron was a popular model at Vincennes and Sèvres throughout the eighteenth century. The cylindrical cup received its name because of its resemblance to the litron, an old wooden cubic measure of slightly larger dimensions, used to quantify salt, grain, flour and peas. The gobelet litron was among the earliest ‘useful wares’ produced at the manufactory. Although the vast majority of gobelets litrons were made to be used, some were intended to serve as eye-catching knick-knacks for display on chimneypieces and occasional tables. They were perfect gifts and towards the end of each year the production of expensive gobelets litrons sharply increased in order to provide sufficient stock for the Kings’ end-of- year sales staged in Versailles. While matching sets of gobelets litrons were produced to be incorporated into déjeuners and cabarets, others were sold singly, and yet others were grouped together to form sets of contrasting decoration. This cylindrical cup is fitted with a handle, ear-shaped in outline and edged with gold lines; it is painted on its outer surface with striated eddy-like motifs in gold on a white ground. The saucer has sharply angled sides. Double gold bands, one larger than the other, frame the reserves and encircle the foot of the cup and the rims of both cup and saucer. The larger of the two bands round the reserves is diagonally tooled with a double entwined ribbon, one burnished, the other matt with three burnished zigzag lines. The two reserves are painted in polychrome with marine scenes. In the quayside scene on the cup two sailors are shifting a sack under the direction of a third. To the right of the mast in the background two other sailors are moving cargo. On the ground, in the foreground, is a bundle marked ‘No 44’, a crate, a ship’s gun (the back end only visible) and a plank. The left-hand figure is wearing an orange bonnet, a blue waistcoat and pink trousers with red stripes. The right-hand figure in the foreground, who is also wearing the same coloured striped trousers, is dressed in a red waistcoat and mauve bonnet. The left-hand figure in the background is wearing a yellow waistcoat and his companion a light blue waistcoat. On the saucer three sailors are shifting cargo (a barrel, a bundle, a coil of rope, two ?oars and two crates), while two others in the background are hauling on a rope attached to a vessel (the mast only visible). The left-hand figure is dressed in a pink bonnet, light blue waistcoat and pink trousers with red stripes. The kneeling sailor is in a blue bonnet, red waistcoat and pale yellow trousers, while the one who is gesticulating to the right is wearing a pink bonnet, blue jacket and pale pink trousers. The left-hand figure in the background is wearing a white shirt and yellow trousers, and his companion a mauve waistcoat. The beauty of this cup and saucer owes much to the simplicity of the decoration. No rich gilded frieze distracts attention from the deep blue of the ground colour, which is left plain and unadorned. The gilding is confined to burnished bands which outline the shape of the cup and saucer and frame the delicately painted marine scenes. Notwithstanding this economy of gilding, the overall effect is one of restrained richness. Text adapted from French Porcelain: In the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2009