Cup and Saucer (gobelet litron et soucoupe, deuxième grandeur)

In the 1700s, hosts and hostesses served tea in cups such as this one. To cool a little of the hot liquid at a time, a guest would have poured some tea into the deep saucer and then drunk. Paintings known through engraved copies were popular sources for decoration on porcelain vessels in the 1700s. The porcelain painter Étienne-Jean Chabry fils (son), copied the scene on this cup from an engraving of Philip James de Loutherbourg's painting, The Cherished Lamb. The saucer, with its inscription L'Avare (The miser), refers to the comedy of the same name by Molière. The paintings on cups and saucers did not necessarily have to relate to each other.