The Oyster Dinner
painting by Jean-François de Troy
The Oyster Dinner (French - Le Déjeuner d'huîtres) is a 1735 painting by Jean-François de Troy. It and Nicolas Lancret's The Ham Dinner were commissioned by Louis XV to decorate the dining room in the lesser apartments at the Palace of Versailles. It includes the first appearance of a champagne bottle in painting. Both paintings are now in the Musée Condé, in Chantilly.
Historical
This painting was commissioned by King Louis XV from the painter Jean-François de Troy, for the dining room of the small apartments of the Palace of Versailles, who produced it in 1735. At the same time, he produced two other paintings for the king's apartments : Le Déjeuner de Chasse (Musée du Louvre), as well as a Deer at bay. For the first painting, the painter was only paid on January 20, 1738 by the sum of 2,400 pounds. In apartments, it was the counterpart to Nicolas Lancret's Déjeuner de Jamon. It was in place in 1737 and appears in the inventory of the royal collections at that date. But from 1768, the paintings left the apartments following their reorganization in office rooms and kitchens.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Oyster Dinner” as painting by Jean-François de Troy. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as painting by Jean-François de Troy. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3222518. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1735, 1738, 1737 and 1768.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Oyster Dinner”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Oyster Dinner primary sources, The Oyster Dinner archive and Oyster research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Oyster Dinner”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Oyster Dinner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.