Object Description
Pair of large gilt-bronze mounted Sèvres-style porcelain vases with pedestals
French, Early 20th Century
Vases: height 141cm, width 60cm, depth 44cm
Stands: height 66cm, width 43cm, depth 43cm
Each of the three vases is of ovoid shape and is adorned with intricately cast gilt bronze mounts. The gilt bronze mounts that adorn each vase are nearly identical in construction and character: from the base, to the handles, to the finial, the mounts serve to link the form of one vase to its partner. In a similar vein, the paintings that decorate the front and the back of each vase are stylistically complementary and compositionally cohesive between the two works.
The gilt bronze base of each vase is especially elaborate: each base is square in profile with canted corners and is mounted with an assortment of gilt bronze elements, such as acanthus leaves, shields, bunched and draped fabric, and dangling tassels. The two works are decidedly Neoclassical in nature, yet infused with Rococo flamboyance and ostentatious magnificence. Above each vase’s dark blue-ground porcelain socle, which sits upon its respective gilt bronze base, is surmounted a gilt bronze circular foliate mount. From this mount, on each vase, spring twin gilt bronze handles. Each handle is as elaborate in construction as is each base: the handle is formed from an acanthus leaf wrapped fluted column, upon which, as a capital, sits a lyre, the arms of which gradually mutate into scrolling acanthus leaves. Behind the head of each lyre-topped handle is a putto seated on the vase’s shoulder. Continuing the theme of elaborate gilt bronze mounts, the finial that surmounts each vase comprises two birds courting atop their nest.
The scenes painted on the front of each vase are similarly complementary. Each painted scene is situated within an elaborate scrolling gilt framed cartouche. The scenes depict figures enjoying the countryside with horses and dogs. The overall theme is one of courtly life and love, typically Rococo in sentiment. Each painting is executed in a similar colour palette, the dominant tones being pastel shades of blue, pink, and yellow. The painted scenes on the reverse of each vase, now framed within less elaborate gilt frames, represent landscape idylls, whether pastorals of rivers and lakes or of countryside castles.
Each vase stands on a 21st Century gilt bronze pedestal, the form of which is after a 19th Century French wooden prototype. Each pedestal is supported by four cabriole legs and is topped by a piece of lapis lazuli, the colour of which complements the blue-ground colour of the porcelain of each vase.