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Lot Essay
The present two vases, made years apart and decorated as a pair, came into the saleroom on 30 December 1848. Described in the ledgers as "Deux vases Fuseau 2e grandeur sans anses fond vert décor vues des chateaux de Fontainbleau et de la Malmaison", they were priced at 700 francs each. (MNS., Archives, Registre Vv5, folio 20, No. 3)
The records for these vases (feuille d'appréciation) notes that the landscapes were painted by Riocreux (Isidore Riocreux, 1844-1849) at a cost of 75 francs each. The decorative gilding and chasing was the work of Richard jeune (François Richard, 1832-1875) for which he was paid 107 francs and 60 francs respectively. The pair left the sales room September 1851, to be used as prizes at the horse races in Tours. (MNS., Registre Vbb 11, folio 260vo).
The shape, size, ground color and gilding pattern on the present vases is identical to that found on a series of vases of 1812 painted with portraits of the sisters and sisters-in-law of Napoleon I. It is likely that the vase made in 1812 was intended for this series. Owing either to production problems (there are kiln blemishes on the shoulder) or to changes in the government, it was left undecorated after the addition of the green ground. In 1848, it must have been taken from storage and used to form a pair with the newly made vase, to be painted with views of chateaux associated with the First Empire and gilt and chased in the same pattern as the imperial portrait vases.
See Marie-Noëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres, Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum 1740 to the Present Day, London, 1998, no. 55. for the vase from this series now in the Musée nationale de Céramique at Sèvres, painted with a portrait of Catherine of Württemburg, Queen of Westphalia in court dress after a portrait by Georget.
The records for these vases (feuille d'appréciation) notes that the landscapes were painted by Riocreux (Isidore Riocreux, 1844-1849) at a cost of 75 francs each. The decorative gilding and chasing was the work of Richard jeune (François Richard, 1832-1875) for which he was paid 107 francs and 60 francs respectively. The pair left the sales room September 1851, to be used as prizes at the horse races in Tours. (MNS., Registre Vbb 11, folio 260v
The shape, size, ground color and gilding pattern on the present vases is identical to that found on a series of vases of 1812 painted with portraits of the sisters and sisters-in-law of Napoleon I. It is likely that the vase made in 1812 was intended for this series. Owing either to production problems (there are kiln blemishes on the shoulder) or to changes in the government, it was left undecorated after the addition of the green ground. In 1848, it must have been taken from storage and used to form a pair with the newly made vase, to be painted with views of chateaux associated with the First Empire and gilt and chased in the same pattern as the imperial portrait vases.
See Marie-Noëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres, Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum 1740 to the Present Day, London, 1998, no. 55. for the vase from this series now in the Musée nationale de Céramique at Sèvres, painted with a portrait of Catherine of Württemburg, Queen of Westphalia in court dress after a portrait by Georget.