Lot Essay
Inspired in form by the Parisian goût grecque of the 1760's and 1770's, the unusual use of ormolu 'jewelled' with paste brilliants is scarcely documented in Parisian ateliers. Related to the oeuvre of the English clock-maker and entrepreneur James Cox (d.1788), who specialised in clocks and automata for the Chinese and Turkish markets, it is certainly possible that this urn was also executed for the Export market, possibly for Russia. That the Russians had a taste for such jewelled objet's d'art is testified to by the success enjoyed by the Tula factory under Catherine the Great. These workshops had been established by Peter the Great in 1713, and were renowned in the late 18th Century for objets d'art in cut-steel and gilt-bronze, sometimes with jewelled-paste decoration.
Such jewelled objects seem to have been particularly admired by the Rothschild's in the 19th Century, and these include a clock designed by François Vion, together with a pair of candlesticks en suite, from the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild (sold by Mrs. Goldberg in these Rooms, 22 June 1989, lots 19-20), and a further clock formerly owned Alfred de Rothschild, which was sold in these Rooms from the Coke Collection, 17 October 1996, lot 151. Further examples of paste-mounted ormolu include a Louis XVI easel-mirror (illustrated in D. Alcouffe et al., La Folie d'Artois, Paris, 1988, p.191), a clock garniture from the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur collection (sold at Christie's New York, 14 October 1994, lot 255), and a pair of late 18th Century mirrors attributed to a Viennese workshop (D. Alcouffe et al., op. cit., p.196).
Such jewelled objects seem to have been particularly admired by the Rothschild's in the 19th Century, and these include a clock designed by François Vion, together with a pair of candlesticks en suite, from the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild (sold by Mrs. Goldberg in these Rooms, 22 June 1989, lots 19-20), and a further clock formerly owned Alfred de Rothschild, which was sold in these Rooms from the Coke Collection, 17 October 1996, lot 151. Further examples of paste-mounted ormolu include a Louis XVI easel-mirror (illustrated in D. Alcouffe et al., La Folie d'Artois, Paris, 1988, p.191), a clock garniture from the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur collection (sold at Christie's New York, 14 October 1994, lot 255), and a pair of late 18th Century mirrors attributed to a Viennese workshop (D. Alcouffe et al., op. cit., p.196).