Skip to main content

Primary sourceArtifact

Sèvres porcelain plate with portrait of Marie-Antoinette

Marin

A Sèvres porcelain plate with a central painted miniature portrait of the queen, from the Fontainebleau collection. It is held by a museum in Luxembourg.

Shows the queen's likeness on a royal luxury object, linking her image to the Fontainebleau collection.

Ask Marie Antoinette about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Photograph of a round porcelain plate on a stand. The rim is cobalt blue with gilt scrollwork and oval panels painted with flowers. The centre shows a painted portrait of a woman with powdered hair, a pearl necklace, and a yellow and pink garment.
Sèvres porcelain plate with portrait of Marie-Antoinette, central portrait by Marin. National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art, Luxembourg.

About this source

What it is

This is a round porcelain plate made at Sèvres, with a central portrait of Marie Antoinette painted in miniature. The centre portrait is by Marin. The black plate rim has gilt arabesque decoration and multi-coloured garlands. The plate is marked SVQP46 and is linked to the Château de Fontainebleau. The National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art in Luxembourg holds it. The record does not give a date for the plate.

Why it matters

Sèvres was a royal porcelain manufactory, and royal households used fine porcelain to display rank and taste. Placing the queen's portrait on a plate shows how her image was used in luxury objects as well as in prints and paintings. The plate lets students see that a royal likeness could appear in everyday objects used by the court.

Look closer

  • Why would a royal portrait be painted on a plate rather than on a canvas?
  • What do the gold decoration and rich colours suggest about who used this object?
  • What does the plate not tell us about who painted it, who used it, or how it was made?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Antoinette on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Marie Antoinette sources

Meet the AI Marie Antoinette →
Pen-and-ink sketch in brown-orange ink on pale paper of a woman seated in profile facing left, hair piled high, hands in lap, with a handwritten French caption mounted below on a pale blue card.Painting

Primary source

Marie Antoinette Being Taken to Her Execution

Jacques-Louis David · 16 October 1793

Painting of a woman in a red velvet gown with a plumed hat, seated with a toddler in white on her lap and a young girl leaning against her. A boy in gold-brown satin stands at right, pointing toward a cradle draped in green fabric. Ornate interior with columns, a red cabinet, and a floral carpet.Painting

Primary source

Marie Antoinette and Her Children

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · 1787

Oil painting of a woman in a white muslin dress with ruffled neckline and gold sash, wearing a straw hat with a grey feather plume and blue ribbons, holding a pink rose against a dark background with a flower arrangement at right.Painting

Primary source

Marie Antoinette in a Muslin Dress

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · 1783

Handwritten French letter on aged cream paper in brown ink cursive script, page 1 with a blue oval 'Archives Nationales' stamp near the top center and a page number '1' at top right.Letter

Primary source

Letter to Her Brother Emperor Leopold II

Marie Antoinette · 8 September 1791

Front facade of a pale yellow stone neoclassical palace under a blue sky with clouds. It has two stories, a row of tall windows, and tall columns with Corinthian capitals on the central section. Stone balustrades run along the roofline and the sides of a flight of steps, with a bare gravel forecourt in front.Artifact

Primary source

Petit Trianon

Ange-Jacques Gabriel · 1762-1768

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Marie Antoinette now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions