ipu would have appreciated the high quality of these objects,
as well as their association with his father and with Mysore's French
allies. The inscriptions on the back of these plaques record that
they were given by Louis XVI to Haidar Ali
on the occasion of the French king's coronation. They were one of
the king's many elaborate diplomatic gifts, like the six Savonneries
carpets and over twenty pieces of Tapestry which Louis XVI presented
to the future Tsar Paul I of Russia and grand duchess Maria Feodorovna
in 1782.
With some six months' notice of the arrival of Tipu's ambassadors,
M. Regnier, director of the royal porcelain factory at S�vres was
instructed to prepare a long list of items 'pour Tippoo Sultan et
ses trois ambassadeurs.' In deference to the Muslim tradition, the
decoration was to be '� fleurs, sans figure d'hommes ni d'animaux'
('floral, without any images of men or animals.') The S�vres 'Registre
des Ventes' includes entries for huqqas and huqqa bases for Tipu
himself, and for the ambassadors '6 houkas, 12 gargoulis�6 Bustes
du Roi de de la Reine (6 huqqas, 12 huqqa bases� 6 busts of
the King and the Queen)
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