Lot Essay
DULAC AND THE SEVRES VASES-CLOCHES
Styling himself as 'Dulac marchand gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or', Jean Dulac proclaimed in his advertisment that he could provide:-
garniture de cheminées )
vases montées ) en or moulu
girandoles )
pendule de bureaux )
A parfumeur by profession, Dulac appears consistently in the sales register at Sèvres from 1758-1776. Dulac acquired the majority of the production of this model, known as vases-cloches, mainly between 1772 and 1779, at prices varying from 60 to 84 livres, dependent on the ground colour - the fond lapis being far more expensive than the green. By 1774, however, Jean Dulac had sold to his successor
Les droits de vente par commission des porcelaines de la Manufacture de Sèvres dont il tient dépôt
Several vases-cloches are recorded at that time, in predominantly Sèvres porcelain, some mounted with gilt-bronze and others decorated with a landscape on a green-ground or with roses
It seems that Dulac's vases were often conceived as amusing mechanical gifts. Around 1767 Dulac produced a 'pot-pourri chinois auquel on a adapté un petit orgue qui lui sert de soubassement'. A related vase, possibly orginally supplied to Madame de Pompadour and now at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, conceals a reduction in silver of the equestrian statue of Louis XV that had just been unveiled in the place de la Concorde. This same vase, mounted with satyr handles, is signed under the lid 'Dulac Md rue St. Honoré Invenit'
A pair of vases with lion-mask handles of the same model as the Houghton pair was delivered to the King of Poland for his use at the Lazienski Palace, Warsaw. They are similarly signed 'DULAC MD. RUE ST./HONORE A PARIS/INVENIT' (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 72-3, figs. 66-7)
This second type, with its characteristic lion-mask handles, often contained pop-up candelabra, which elevated themselves once the covers were removed. With their security catch to the tops, these pot-pourri most probably originally also contained candelabra fittings and may be identifiable with those sold with their candelabra from the collection of H.M.W. Oppenheim in these Rooms, 10 June 1913, lot 76
Before 1774, Madame du Barry either bought or asked for a pair of this model, which retain their candelabra fittings and are now conserved at the château de Fontainebleau (P. Verlet, op. cit., fig. 236), while the duc de la Vrillière possessed a further pair, valued at 800 livres in 1777
While it is certain that Jean Dulac created this type of vase, as his use of the word 'invenit' confirms, it is interesting to note that the Manufacture du Sèvres had the right to sell them directly. This fact is confirmed by the two vases-cloches at the Palace of Pavlosk, which were acquired directly from Sèvres in 1782 through the intermediary Prince Baryatinski for the sum of 1680 livres. Recorded in the chambre à coucher and then in the cabinet de travail of Grand Duke Paul's appartments, they comprise a garniture with a third pot-pourri vase of identical model to the present vases-cloches (illustrated in A. de Gourcoff, Pavlosk The Collections, Vol. II, Lenningrad, 1993, p. 150, fig. 20)
The attribution of this group to Dulac is confirmed by Horace Walpole's visit to Madame Dulac in the autumn of 1765. Walpole acquired, amongst other things, three closely related vases mounted with satyr masks for his friend John Chute of the Vyne, Hampshire, at a cost of 19 guineas. This model obviously found favour with English collectors, as there are a number recorded in English collections. Among those sold in these Rooms are a pair from the collection of the Earl of Stair, inherited by marriage from the duc de Coigny (1737-1821), Maréchal of France and confident of both Louis XV and Louis XVI (6 April 1978, lot 50), a pair with apple-green porcelain bodies from the collection of Lord Ashburton (19 March 1964, lot 59), and a pair without covers but with their pop-up fittings from the collection of the Earl of Swinton (4 December 1975, lot 51)
JEAN DULAC
There were in fact three marchand-merciers by the name of Dulac established in the rue Saint Honoré between 1760 and 1790. Traditionally, 'Dulac' has been identified as either the marchand Antoine Dulac or his son Antoine Charles. In reality, however, the marchand-mercier who specialised in the commercialisation of Sèvres porcelain was Jean Dulac
The son of Charles Dulac, Jean was born in 1704 and became a marchand-gantier-parfumeur before 1740. Married in 1728, following the death of his first wife he remarried in 1743. At this date, his furniture and effects were valued at the notable sum of 24000 livres
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
Styling himself as 'Dulac marchand gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or', Jean Dulac proclaimed in his advertisment that he could provide:-
garniture de cheminées )
vases montées ) en or moulu
girandoles )
pendule de bureaux )
A parfumeur by profession, Dulac appears consistently in the sales register at Sèvres from 1758-1776. Dulac acquired the majority of the production of this model, known as vases-cloches, mainly between 1772 and 1779, at prices varying from 60 to 84 livres, dependent on the ground colour - the fond lapis being far more expensive than the green. By 1774, however, Jean Dulac had sold to his successor
Les droits de vente par commission des porcelaines de la Manufacture de Sèvres dont il tient dépôt
Several vases-cloches are recorded at that time, in predominantly Sèvres porcelain, some mounted with gilt-bronze and others decorated with a landscape on a green-ground or with roses
It seems that Dulac's vases were often conceived as amusing mechanical gifts. Around 1767 Dulac produced a 'pot-pourri chinois auquel on a adapté un petit orgue qui lui sert de soubassement'. A related vase, possibly orginally supplied to Madame de Pompadour and now at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, conceals a reduction in silver of the equestrian statue of Louis XV that had just been unveiled in the place de la Concorde. This same vase, mounted with satyr handles, is signed under the lid 'Dulac Md rue St. Honoré Invenit'
A pair of vases with lion-mask handles of the same model as the Houghton pair was delivered to the King of Poland for his use at the Lazienski Palace, Warsaw. They are similarly signed 'DULAC MD. RUE ST./HONORE A PARIS/INVENIT' (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 72-3, figs. 66-7)
This second type, with its characteristic lion-mask handles, often contained pop-up candelabra, which elevated themselves once the covers were removed. With their security catch to the tops, these pot-pourri most probably originally also contained candelabra fittings and may be identifiable with those sold with their candelabra from the collection of H.M.W. Oppenheim in these Rooms, 10 June 1913, lot 76
Before 1774, Madame du Barry either bought or asked for a pair of this model, which retain their candelabra fittings and are now conserved at the château de Fontainebleau (P. Verlet, op. cit., fig. 236), while the duc de la Vrillière possessed a further pair, valued at 800 livres in 1777
While it is certain that Jean Dulac created this type of vase, as his use of the word 'invenit' confirms, it is interesting to note that the Manufacture du Sèvres had the right to sell them directly. This fact is confirmed by the two vases-cloches at the Palace of Pavlosk, which were acquired directly from Sèvres in 1782 through the intermediary Prince Baryatinski for the sum of 1680 livres. Recorded in the chambre à coucher and then in the cabinet de travail of Grand Duke Paul's appartments, they comprise a garniture with a third pot-pourri vase of identical model to the present vases-cloches (illustrated in A. de Gourcoff, Pavlosk The Collections, Vol. II, Lenningrad, 1993, p. 150, fig. 20)
The attribution of this group to Dulac is confirmed by Horace Walpole's visit to Madame Dulac in the autumn of 1765. Walpole acquired, amongst other things, three closely related vases mounted with satyr masks for his friend John Chute of the Vyne, Hampshire, at a cost of 19 guineas. This model obviously found favour with English collectors, as there are a number recorded in English collections. Among those sold in these Rooms are a pair from the collection of the Earl of Stair, inherited by marriage from the duc de Coigny (1737-1821), Maréchal of France and confident of both Louis XV and Louis XVI (6 April 1978, lot 50), a pair with apple-green porcelain bodies from the collection of Lord Ashburton (19 March 1964, lot 59), and a pair without covers but with their pop-up fittings from the collection of the Earl of Swinton (4 December 1975, lot 51)
JEAN DULAC
There were in fact three marchand-merciers by the name of Dulac established in the rue Saint Honoré between 1760 and 1790. Traditionally, 'Dulac' has been identified as either the marchand Antoine Dulac or his son Antoine Charles. In reality, however, the marchand-mercier who specialised in the commercialisation of Sèvres porcelain was Jean Dulac
The son of Charles Dulac, Jean was born in 1704 and became a marchand-gantier-parfumeur before 1740. Married in 1728, following the death of his first wife he remarried in 1743. At this date, his furniture and effects were valued at the notable sum of 24000 livres
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs
He was appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753 and, following that, marchand-bijoutier. Jean Dulac resided in the rue Saint Honoré, the majority of the building being allotted to the workshops and parfumerie. His signboard of 'le berceau d'or', inherited from his father, appears in several of his bills, while others carry the phrase 'Dulac marchand-gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or'. Dulac's trade flourished and for several decades he supplied the leading European nobility
He retired, childless, in 1774, having made his fortune, but kept an eye over the shop, which he had rented out following the sale of part of his stock to P.A. Le Baigue for 66000 livres. The latter replaced Dulac as marchand privilégié du Roi on 24 February 1775. Dulac died in his house in the rue Saint Honoré in 1786, leaving his cousin, the painter Charles Louis Clérisseau, as one of his principal heirs