Charles-Nicolas Dodin was one of the most accomplished painters active at the Sèvres and Vincennes factories. First recorded as a painter at Vincennes in 1754, the present cup and saucer are from the very beginning of his celebrated career. In 1757-8 he began specializing in painting colored reserves and was probably the only manufactory artist to work directly from original paintings as well as from engravings. He painted a wide variety of subjects, ranging from hunting scenes and portraits to pastorals after Boucher and Fragonard, as well as finely painted genre scenes. In 1773-4 he was regarded as 'le plus habile peintre de l'atelier pour porcelaine tendre' (see R. Savill, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Sèvres porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. III, pp.1029-31).