Object Description
Pair of gilt bronze mounted krater-form bisque porcelain vases
French, 19th Century
Height 43cm, diameter 26.5cm
The pair of vases is crafted in the Neoclassical style from bisque porcelain mounted with gilt bronze. Each vase takes the form of a classical Greek krater, with a large and wide flared neck set above a relatively small domed belly. The belly of each is supported by a socle that spreads into a circular foot, which in turn is raised on a gilt bronze base. The porcelain throughout is largely unglazed (or bisque), though there are moments of parcel glazing: the top of the neck, the top of the belly, and the socle, for instance. Moreover, this parcel glazing is parcel gilt with fleur-de-lis and other foliate forms. The bisque porcelain is superbly moulded: the neck with a frieze of putti, the belly with spreading acanthus leaves.
The underside of each is affixed with a sticker demonstrating a South American provenance.