From 1781 until the Revolution (1789), the French factory of Christophe Dihl, Antoine Guérhard and his wife Louise-Françoise-Madeleine Croizé produced coloured and gilt porcelain under the patronage of the Duc d’Angoulême. The factory created some of the finest sculptural work and painted decoration in Paris during this period, even rivalling the Sèvres factory. The painted and gilt decoration on this teapot is attributed to Étienne-Charles Le Guay, the son of an important Sèvres porcelain decorator. While Le Guay worked at the Sèvres manufactory throughout most of his career, he also taught portrait miniature painting and occasionally decorated Dihl et Guérhard’s porcelain.
This teapot was once part of the Lady Cynthia Rosalie Postan Collection. The daughter of the 9th Earl of Albemarle, Lady Postan (1918 – 2017) was a prominent porcelain collector but also a secretary for MI5, a translator, editor and a noted horticulturalist.
