Object Description
Large Sèvres-style gilt-bronze mounted porcelain vase with pedestal
French, Early 20th Century
Vase: height 162cm, width 63cm, depth 48cm
Stand: height 66cm, width 48cm, depth 48cm
This impressively large Sèvres style porcelain vase is ovoid in shape, and is mounted with beautifully cast ormolu elements. The base of the vase is especially ornate: square in structure with canted corners, it is adorned with a variety of sculptural forms, including scrolling acanthus leaves, emblemed shields, draped fabric, and hanging tassels. Supported by this base, the porcelain socle of the vase culminates in an ormolu foliate mount, which in turn supports the body of the vase. The porcelain ground of the socle, body, neck, and lid of the vase is finished in a beautiful royal blue – a rich dark tone, close to that of lapis lazuli and ultramarine.
From the ormolu foliate mount that surmounts the socle spring a pair handles, slender at first, but increasingly grand as the handle rises. Each piece is elaborately formed from an acanthus leaf wrapped column, upon which is supported a lyre with hybridised arms—like Daphne, the arms of the lyre turn to foliage. Behind each lyre-topped handle, seated on the shoulder of the vase, is an ormolu putto.
The paintings, set within elaborate gilt cartouches, are typically 18th Century Rococo in style, and depict, on one side, a young aristocratic gentleman approaching a pair of ladies with flowers, and on the other side, a castle set in an idyllic European bucolic woodland paradise. The entire composition is entirely Rococo in feeling and execution, being playful yet distinctly Classical, combining beautiful traditional refined artistry with expressive theatrical grandeur.
The vase stands on a beautifully cast ormolu stand, which dates from the 21st Century and has been designed after a 19th Century wooden original. The stand, raised on four bun feet, is supported by four scrolling cabriole legs with beaded edges. The top of the stand, upon which the base of the vase sits, is formed of lapis lazuli, which perfectly complements the vase’s blue porcelain ground. The paintings, set within elaborate gilt cartouches, are typically 18th Century Rococo in style, and depict, on one side, a young aristocratic gentleman approaching a pair of ladies with flowers, and on the other side, a castle set in an idyllic European bucolic woodland paradise.