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Dinner plate
Edme-Pierre Balzac (Born 1705, master 1739; died about 1786)
France (Paris)
1771–72
Object Place: Europe, Paris, France
Medium/Technique
Metal; silver
Dimensions
Diameter: 26.6cm (10 1/2in.)
Credit Line
Elizabeth Parke Firestone and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. Collection
Accession Number1993.471.17
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSilver
DescriptionOne from a set of twenty-four shaped circular dinner plates, with molded laurel rims. Engraved with a double headed eagle with a crown, a shield, an orb, and a scepter(?), the Russian Imperial arms.
InscriptionsMaker's Mark: a crowned fleur-de-lis, two grains, EPB, a cinquefoil partly obscured (Dennis, 30). Warden's Mark: 1771-1772: a crowned H (Dennis, 38). ChargeMark: for large works 1768-1775: a crowned A (Dennis, 37). Discharge Mark: fo r works intended for export, 1733(?)-1775: a little cow (Dennis, 14). Other: asmall rectangle; St. Petersburg mark, "Beschauzelchen etwa" 1784 (Rosenberg, 8143); HM, a grain between, in a rectangle; Russian standard mark: a 91 in a rectangle (Tardy, p. 265); Countermark used after 1838: parts of insects (Rosenberg, 5929).
Provenance1770, part of Orloff Service ordered by Empress Catherine the Great; 1928, purhased by Jacques Helft directly from Soviet Government (850 pieces). 1932, Comte Horodiski. 1952, Bertha Wallace, Paris. Elizabeth Parke Firestone (b. 1897 - d. 1990) and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. (b. 1898 - d. 1973), Akron, OH and Newport, RI; 1993; gift of the estate of Elizabeth Parke Firestone and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 26, 1993)