Dish cover

This dish cover, called at the time a 'cloche à la matelote', was designed to preserve food, the type usually being alluded to by the decoration on the top: in this case a still life of fish, shellfish and fishing symbols on a bed of seaweed. A sculptural composition, remarkable not only for its originality but also for its daring and magnificent architectural sense, as well as the perfection of the workmanship, attesting to the consummate skill of its author.
This work incorporated the so-called ‘Penthièvre-Orléans’ service, at the base of which appears the coat of arms of the Orléans family. This was ordered to be installed by the future King of the French, Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orléans and son of Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, known as ‘Phillipe-Égalité’, and Adélaide de Bourbon, the daughter of the Duke of Penthièvre and the great-granddaughter of Louis XIV, from whom Louis Philippe inherited this piece in 1821.