Lot Essay
These exceptionally delicate vases with their nearly translucent agate, jewel-like mounts and rich porphyry bases are conceived in the great late 18th century tradition popularized by the Parisian marchand merciers of combining natural and man-made wonders. They first appear in the 1789 sale of the dealer, Coclers, where the catalogue describes them as:
[INSERT PRINTED LOT TEXT]
They were bought by the celebrated dealer, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun (d. 1813). Nephew of the painter Charles Lebrun under Louis XIV, Lebrun was born in Paris on 18 February 1748. The eldest of six children, he was brought up by his father Pierre-Louis Lebrun, maître-peintre at the académie de Saint Luc, who was by profession a dealer in paintings and furniture. An undistinguished artist himself, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun followed his father's example in becoming a picture dealer. After his father's death in 1771 and his mother's remarriage to the marchand Nicolas Lerouge, he moved to the rue de Cléry and on 10 January 1776 he was married to Elisabeth-Louise Vigée. Through his wife's numerous contacts at Court he was appointed garde des tableaux du comte d'Artois et du duc d'Orléans.
At their hôtel in the rue du Gros-Chenet, the young couple received the haute societé in the last days of the Ancien Régime-Noailles, Calonne, Polignac for example. They also surrounded themselves with the intellectual bourgeoisie-Marmontel, Rivarol and particularly the painter David.
In order to pay his creditors and avoid the confiscation of his possessions after his wife's emigration in 1789, Lebrun was forced to put his collections up for sale. On the 11 April 1791 and the following days, more than 1,020 lots were sold.
At the time of his sale, the catalogue (prepared by Lebrun himself) indicated that the vases came "de la vente de M. Coclers n 343 vendues 1,300 liv.". This time around, the vases were bought by the prosperous paintings dealer, Guillaume Jean Constantin, who was to become the Empress Eugénie's paintings curator. They subsequently turn up in the collection of the great amateur, Baron Roger, where they are described as:
"deux coupes en agathe orientale, richement montées à trépieds, en bronze doré, par Gouthière, sur socle et plinthe, en porphyre oriental ornées de guirlandes de fleurs en bronze doré".
When they reappear over 80 years later in the de Polès sale, the bases have been changed to the present square plinths and the pair augmented by a slightly larger centerpiece with the jade bowl (see the following lot).
These agate coupes exemplify the passion in France in the late 18th century for richly mounted marbles and semi-precious stones. Great amateurs, such as the duc d'Aumont and his daughter, the duchesse de Mazarin imported exotic marbles from Italy and commissioned bronziers such as Pierre Gouthière to create gilt bronze mounts for their treasures.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette also shared this interest, with the King making a large number of purchases of hardstone objects at the sale of the duc d'Aumont's collection in 1781.
Not surprisingly, the bases of these vases relate closely to the porphyry bases found on a pair of porcelain bowls from the duc d'Aumont's collection (lot 43) which are attributed to Gouthière (see C. Baulez, "Pierre Gouthière (1738-1813)" in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. II, 1986, p. 577, fig. 16). However, the Egyptian heads and drapery cast supports are more commonly associated with the work of the bronziers, François Remond or Pierre-Phillipe Thomire. It seems most likely that they were commissioned by a marchand mercier like Dominique Daguerre or a jeweler such as Joseph-Ange Aubert who would have supplied the agate cups. Sometime after 1841, the pair of vases acquired the centerpiece (lot 328) and the square bases which unite the three.
[INSERT PRINTED LOT TEXT]
They were bought by the celebrated dealer, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun (d. 1813). Nephew of the painter Charles Lebrun under Louis XIV, Lebrun was born in Paris on 18 February 1748. The eldest of six children, he was brought up by his father Pierre-Louis Lebrun, maître-peintre at the académie de Saint Luc, who was by profession a dealer in paintings and furniture. An undistinguished artist himself, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun followed his father's example in becoming a picture dealer. After his father's death in 1771 and his mother's remarriage to the marchand Nicolas Lerouge, he moved to the rue de Cléry and on 10 January 1776 he was married to Elisabeth-Louise Vigée. Through his wife's numerous contacts at Court he was appointed garde des tableaux du comte d'Artois et du duc d'Orléans.
At their hôtel in the rue du Gros-Chenet, the young couple received the haute societé in the last days of the Ancien Régime-Noailles, Calonne, Polignac for example. They also surrounded themselves with the intellectual bourgeoisie-Marmontel, Rivarol and particularly the painter David.
In order to pay his creditors and avoid the confiscation of his possessions after his wife's emigration in 1789, Lebrun was forced to put his collections up for sale. On the 11 April 1791 and the following days, more than 1,020 lots were sold.
At the time of his sale, the catalogue (prepared by Lebrun himself) indicated that the vases came "de la vente de M. Coclers n 343 vendues 1,300 liv.". This time around, the vases were bought by the prosperous paintings dealer, Guillaume Jean Constantin, who was to become the Empress Eugénie's paintings curator. They subsequently turn up in the collection of the great amateur, Baron Roger, where they are described as:
"deux coupes en agathe orientale, richement montées à trépieds, en bronze doré, par Gouthière, sur socle et plinthe, en porphyre oriental ornées de guirlandes de fleurs en bronze doré".
When they reappear over 80 years later in the de Polès sale, the bases have been changed to the present square plinths and the pair augmented by a slightly larger centerpiece with the jade bowl (see the following lot).
These agate coupes exemplify the passion in France in the late 18th century for richly mounted marbles and semi-precious stones. Great amateurs, such as the duc d'Aumont and his daughter, the duchesse de Mazarin imported exotic marbles from Italy and commissioned bronziers such as Pierre Gouthière to create gilt bronze mounts for their treasures.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette also shared this interest, with the King making a large number of purchases of hardstone objects at the sale of the duc d'Aumont's collection in 1781.
Not surprisingly, the bases of these vases relate closely to the porphyry bases found on a pair of porcelain bowls from the duc d'Aumont's collection (lot 43) which are attributed to Gouthière (see C. Baulez, "Pierre Gouthière (1738-1813)" in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. II, 1986, p. 577, fig. 16). However, the Egyptian heads and drapery cast supports are more commonly associated with the work of the bronziers, François Remond or Pierre-Phillipe Thomire. It seems most likely that they were commissioned by a marchand mercier like Dominique Daguerre or a jeweler such as Joseph-Ange Aubert who would have supplied the agate cups. Sometime after 1841, the pair of vases acquired the centerpiece (lot 328) and the square bases which unite the three.