A fine and highly elegant 18th-century French porcelain tray, attributed to the Manufacture de Joseph-Gaspard Robert, Marseille, circa 1770–1785. This large oval tray is decorated with a graceful gallant scene in the taste of Watteau and Boucher, showing a seated couple in a wooded landscape, framed by a delicate pink ribbon border, small blue flowers and a gilt scalloped rim.The reverse bears a blue hand-painted “R” mark, consistent with the mark associated with Joseph-Gaspard Robert’s Marseille manufacture. The underside also has a distinctive moulded S-shaped support rib, a practical and technical feature used on larger flat ceramic forms to strengthen the body and help prevent distortion during firing. The fine white ceramic body, relatively light weight for its size, crisp moulding, elegant oval form and refined Rococo decoration all support an attribution to high-quality Marseille production of the later 18th century.Joseph-Gaspard Robert was one of the most important cer...