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Lot Essay
The slender and elongated shape of these ewers, with their griffin handles accentuating deeply scrolled spouts, has been linked to the bronziers André-Antoine Ravrio (1759-1814) and Claude Galle (1759-1815), both of whom flourished during the Empire.
An 1812 portrait by Henri-François Riesener depicting Ravrio standing by a griffin-headed ewer closely related to the present lot, is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 690, fig. 16), while further related examples include a pair of ormolu ewers from the Wildentstein Collection, sold at Christie's, London 14-15 December 2005, lot 368, and another attributed to Ravrio, the body similarly applied in relief with a winged maiden, offered at Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 220. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel illustrate a related pair probably by Galle (Ibid, p. 364, fig. 5.12.6), while A. de Gourcuff illustrates a further pair in (ed.), Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121.
An 1812 portrait by Henri-François Riesener depicting Ravrio standing by a griffin-headed ewer closely related to the present lot, is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 690, fig. 16), while further related examples include a pair of ormolu ewers from the Wildentstein Collection, sold at Christie's, London 14-15 December 2005, lot 368, and another attributed to Ravrio, the body similarly applied in relief with a winged maiden, offered at Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 220. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel illustrate a related pair probably by Galle (Ibid, p. 364, fig. 5.12.6), while A. de Gourcuff illustrates a further pair in (ed.), Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121.