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Lot Essay
The unusual pink granite appears to be the same as that employed on a monumental tazza executed in Sweden during the reign of King Karl XIV Johann (1763-1844). Known to be carved of Pink Porphyry from Brevdal and offered in these Rooms, 11 December 2003, lot 69, the tazza is a variant of that still at Rosendal Castle, Stockholm, which was rebuilt in the 1820s. Six of these monumental tazzas are known to exist, all of which were almost certainly Royal commissions. Three are in grey granite, called granitell or Asbydiabas, which include one in the Royal Castle in Stockholm, one in the Museo Napoleonico in Rome, and the one at Rosendal. The three others were made in light porphyry from Bredval, and included one which was offered by the King to Etienne-Maurice Comte Gérard, Maréchal de France (Christie's, Monaco, 2 July 1993, lot 235) and a further example which was offered by the King to Lady Disbrowne in 1834 (Sotheby's, London, 25 May 1990, lot 173. The ormolu mounts for the tazza at Rosendal were supplied by one of Stockholm's leading bronziers, Ludwig Mangeot, for which he received 450 icus, and he was most probably responsible for the mounts on the other tazze as well ('Porphyre, La Pierre Royale', exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1990, no. 104).
The Carraro vases relate to C.F. Sundvall's designs for porphyry and granite vases, which were executed from around 1788 - 1790 near Alvdalen. Whilst the mounts recall those produced by by the Court ciseleur Fredrik Ludvig Rung (1748 - 1810) of 1799 (H. Sundblom, Porfyr, Stockholm, 1985, p. 21), the distinctive channelled waist on the vases themselves is seen slightly later on an 1805 pattern in the priced Taillerie de Porphyre (ex. cat.). Rung had trained in France and England before returning to Stockholm and establishing a workshop specializing in clocks, candelabra and mounts for hardstone objects in 1787. Although Fredick Rung's manuscript design of 1799 for a pair of vases now in the Swedish Royal Collection in Stockholm shows a berried leaf cup to the bottom of the vase which closely recalls the Carraro pair inspiration for this design almost certainly lies in the oeuvre of Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Thomire had employed this motif as early as 1790 on a pair of vases purchased for Louveciennes by Madame du Barry from the marchands-merciers Dominique Daguerre and Martin-Eloi Lignereux. Now in the Louvre, these latter avses are discussed in D. Alcouffe et al., Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004 no.117.
Many of the related granite and porphyry items were intended as gifts by the King of Sweden, Maréchal Bernadotte, who reigned as Karl XIV Johann from 1818 to 1844, and whose family owned the porphyry mines. The King presented numerous porphyry objets to Napoleon's maréchaux and various other French dignitaries.
Porphyry was first discovered in Sweden at Alvdalen in 1731 but was not commercially exploited until after 1788 by Eric Hagstrvm under the direction of Nils Adam Bielke. For several decades the workshops produced vases, urns and other monumental vessels often mounted with ormolu mounts either made in Sweden or mounted in France. The works were purchased by Bernadotte in 1818 and stayed in Royal ownership until 1856. Bernadotte used the production of primarily Empire objects in porphyry and related granite to disseminate the Empire style that he had brought from France. Production largely ceased following a disastrous fire in 1869.
The Carraro vases relate to C.F. Sundvall's designs for porphyry and granite vases, which were executed from around 1788 - 1790 near Alvdalen. Whilst the mounts recall those produced by by the Court ciseleur Fredrik Ludvig Rung (1748 - 1810) of 1799 (H. Sundblom, Porfyr, Stockholm, 1985, p. 21), the distinctive channelled waist on the vases themselves is seen slightly later on an 1805 pattern in the priced Taillerie de Porphyre (ex. cat.). Rung had trained in France and England before returning to Stockholm and establishing a workshop specializing in clocks, candelabra and mounts for hardstone objects in 1787. Although Fredick Rung's manuscript design of 1799 for a pair of vases now in the Swedish Royal Collection in Stockholm shows a berried leaf cup to the bottom of the vase which closely recalls the Carraro pair inspiration for this design almost certainly lies in the oeuvre of Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Thomire had employed this motif as early as 1790 on a pair of vases purchased for Louveciennes by Madame du Barry from the marchands-merciers Dominique Daguerre and Martin-Eloi Lignereux. Now in the Louvre, these latter avses are discussed in D. Alcouffe et al., Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004 no.117.
Many of the related granite and porphyry items were intended as gifts by the King of Sweden, Maréchal Bernadotte, who reigned as Karl XIV Johann from 1818 to 1844, and whose family owned the porphyry mines. The King presented numerous porphyry objets to Napoleon's maréchaux and various other French dignitaries.
Porphyry was first discovered in Sweden at Alvdalen in 1731 but was not commercially exploited until after 1788 by Eric Hagstrvm under the direction of Nils Adam Bielke. For several decades the workshops produced vases, urns and other monumental vessels often mounted with ormolu mounts either made in Sweden or mounted in France. The works were purchased by Bernadotte in 1818 and stayed in Royal ownership until 1856. Bernadotte used the production of primarily Empire objects in porphyry and related granite to disseminate the Empire style that he had brought from France. Production largely ceased following a disastrous fire in 1869.