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Lot Essay
This vase, of extremely unusual scale, corresponds exactly with that described in the catalogue of the collection of the banquier de la Cour, Nicolas Beaujeon in 1787:-
Thus forming the central vase of a garniture including two further vases ronds en pot-pourri - which remain untraced - the garniture was acquired by the marchand Boileau for 242 livres. This comparatively cheap price is explained for by the fact that, in 1787, the garniture's rocaille mounts were completely demodé.
In the 18th Century, another garniture of this type is described succinctly in the possession of the duc de Bouillon, in 1771:- Une urne et deux buires de porcelaine de Saxe à cartouches, à miniatures, fond bleu moucheté de blanc et montées en bronze doré.
As this garniture was undoubtedly the creation of a marchand-mercier, it is intriguing to note an entry in the Livre-Journal of Lazare Duvaux, dated 1 September 1750. This records Un pot pourri de Saxe peint de sujets de Watteau, garni en bronze doré d'or moulu, which he sold to Mme la marquise de Pompadour for 120 livres (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Vol. II, New York, 1966, no.267 A-B, pp.474-75).
As Watson noted, such exquisite Meissen 'Maiblümen' vases decorated with Watteauesque subjects were produced only in limited numbers and are rarely found mounted. Related ormolu-mounted 'Maiblümen' vases comprise:-
-A pair of ewers in The Wallace Collection London (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, no.278, pp.1353-61).
-A garniture of three vases (30.5cm. high) in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London Inv.832, 832A, 832B-1882 (illustrated in F. Litchfield, Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1900, p.14 and O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part 2, London, 1924, pl.38, no.181.
-A pair of vases in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Acc. No. 44.239 and 230).
-A pair of closely related form (37cm. high)sold from the collection of Madame C. Lelong, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 27-30 April and 1 May 1903, lot 202 (illustrated) and now in the Huntington Collection, Pasadena (R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, 1961, p.105, fig.99.
-And a final pair of pot-pourri vases, marked with the C couronné poinçon illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, no.267 A-B, pp.474-5.
Thus forming the central vase of a garniture including two further vases ronds en pot-pourri - which remain untraced - the garniture was acquired by the marchand Boileau for 242 livres. This comparatively cheap price is explained for by the fact that, in 1787, the garniture's rocaille mounts were completely demodé.
In the 18th Century, another garniture of this type is described succinctly in the possession of the duc de Bouillon, in 1771:- Une urne et deux buires de porcelaine de Saxe à cartouches, à miniatures, fond bleu moucheté de blanc et montées en bronze doré.
As this garniture was undoubtedly the creation of a marchand-mercier, it is intriguing to note an entry in the Livre-Journal of Lazare Duvaux, dated 1 September 1750. This records Un pot pourri de Saxe peint de sujets de Watteau, garni en bronze doré d'or moulu, which he sold to Mme la marquise de Pompadour for 120 livres (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Vol. II, New York, 1966, no.267 A-B, pp.474-75).
As Watson noted, such exquisite Meissen 'Maiblümen' vases decorated with Watteauesque subjects were produced only in limited numbers and are rarely found mounted. Related ormolu-mounted 'Maiblümen' vases comprise:-
-A pair of ewers in The Wallace Collection London (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, no.278, pp.1353-61).
-A garniture of three vases (30.5cm. high) in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London Inv.832, 832A, 832B-1882 (illustrated in F. Litchfield, Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1900, p.14 and O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part 2, London, 1924, pl.38, no.181.
-A pair of vases in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Acc. No. 44.239 and 230).
-A pair of closely related form (37cm. high)sold from the collection of Madame C. Lelong, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 27-30 April and 1 May 1903, lot 202 (illustrated) and now in the Huntington Collection, Pasadena (R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, 1961, p.105, fig.99.
-And a final pair of pot-pourri vases, marked with the C couronné poinçon illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, no.267 A-B, pp.474-5.