Tea drinking never became as fashionable in France as in other European countries. But the practice existed at an aristocratic level as an alternative to the usual coffee and chocolate. So-called cabaret sets or déjeuners consisted of complete services on a tray for just one or two people. The Vincennes/Sèvres factory gave them the most luxurious treatment, since its patrons were the wealthiest members of French society.
This is an example of the smallest type of tea set made by the factory, a déjeuner carré, and comprises a single cup and saucer on a square tray with pierced sides. Individual tea sets first appear in the factory records in 1755, and the sales records (most of which have miraculously survived) prove that the purchasers were often the most important members of the court, including the King and his mistress the Madame de Pompadour. This example has extremely unusual ground decoration comprising different shapes painted in relief, scattered like confetti on a background of gilded dots. Some shapes appear to be abstract, but others clearly depict objects including a butterfly, a jug, a heart, a bottle, dividers etc. It is possible this decoration was inspired by richly jewelled material, enamels or confectionary. The reserves were painted by the decorator André-Vincent Vielliard. On the tray is a group of gardening implements, while on the cup and saucer are implements for making and serving tea and coffee. On the saucer, next to a group of porcelain, is a tall pointed object. This is a sugar loaf, the normal way to buy sugar in the 18th century, partially wrapped in its traditional blue paper.