A pair of monumental two-handled Campana Vases

BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST. PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF NICHOLAS I, 1840

Details

A pair of monumental two-handled Campana Vases
by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg, period of Nicholas I, 1840
Tapering cylindrical, on shaped partially fluted socles on square brass bases, the tapering bodies painted with Italianate landscapes, one signed 'Both' (lower left) and in Cyrillic 'P. Shchetinin' (lower right, and with his partical signature on the interior), the other signed in Cyrillic and dated 'Stoletov 1840' (lower right), the reverse of both with lavish gold ciselé foliate scrolls adorned with flowers and buds within turned borders on white ground, the lower portion moulded with scrolling acanthus and foliage with two tied handles, all burnished gilt, with partially gilt spreading rims, within ormolu fittings, one with green under-glaze mark on upper rim with gilt inventory no. 'N 2. 4. G.'
31½in. (80cm.) diam., 37 5/8in. (95.5cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

These monumental vases are painted with italianate landscapes, the one bearing the signature of Both is after a painting by Jan Both (1610-1651), which is recorded in the Witt Library 'from the executors of S.T. Smith, Esq., London'; the other landscape may be after the same artist or his brother Andries Both (1609-1640). As these vases were usually made on Imperial commission, they were painted with copies of paintings in Imperial collections at the Winter Palace, Hermitage or other residences. Baron Wolff in his history of the Imperial Porcelain Factory (St. Petersburg, 1904) illustrates various examples of such monumental pieces produced by the factory, without giving extensive details of these individual painters. However a similar pair of monumental vases decorated with seascapes by Stoletov dated 1840, now in the Russian Museum at St. Petersburg, are reproduced in A. Lanceray, Russian Porcelain, (Leningrad, 1968), plates 162-163.

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