Lot Essay
The Garniture
The present flower vase and stand is recorded in the Sèvres archive between 20 August 1756 and 1 January 1757 purchased by Lavare Duvaux (Vy 2 fol. 12):
1 Vase a Dauphin Enf. Cam. Chaires Col. Encodrés 432 (livres)
2 Vases Duplessis Bleu Cel. Enfants Coloraes 360 (livres per unit) 720 (livres for the pair)
2 pots pouris ajourés 3e gd Enf. Cam. Chaires Col. 168 (livres per unit) 336 (livres for the pair)
The garniture is recorded intact in the Rothschild Collection until their sale in 1994. This appears to be one of the earlies garniture produced.
Comparables
Only six examples of this from appear to be recorded, one from 1754-5 in the collection of the Earls of Harewood, Harewood House, Yorkshire, another from 1755-6 is in the Mussée de Louvre, and example form the same period in the Musée des Arts Decoratif, Paris, a pair in the Wallace Collection, London, and the present vase. The examples from the Wallace Collection are discussed by Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain (London, 1988), Vol. I, pp. 62-69, nos. C215-6.
The Form
The dolphins on the present vase embody a popular motif in rococo decoration. The pierced base of the present vase was intoduced as a distinct form at Vincennes in 1754 and may alude to the birth of the Dauphin's second son (the duc du Berri, later Louis XVI) on 23 August 1754. The two-part shape, probably designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis père, is first seen in 1755 and appears in the sales records between 1755 and 1759; mostly purchased by Lazare Duvaux. During the 19th century the form was refered to by Brongniart as 'Vase gobelet á dauphins'.
The Decoration
The scenes on the present flower vase are adapted from compositions of children by François Boucher. The technique of monochrome painting with exposed flesh naturalistically coloured and pure monochrome is first seen at Vincennes in the first years of the 1750s and is refered to in the factroy archives as enfants camaïeu chaires colorées. This style probably derives from Meissen porcelain decoration. Painting en camaïeu vert was first used by Meissen circa 1745-7 on scenes derived from Watteau engravings for a toilette service delivered to Maria Amalia, Queen of Naples in 1748. The style was also used on vases and a clock case, part of a gift of porcelain from Augustus III to the Duaphin and Dauphine in late 1747. In his recently published chapter, 'Gifts of Meissen Porcelain to the French Court, 1728-50', co-written with Selma Schwartz, Jeffrey Munger points to the fact that this style of decoration fortuitously fitted with the decorative scheme of the Dauphine's newly re-furbished cabinet, see Maureen Cassidy-Geiger et. al., Fragile Diplomacy, Meissen Porcelain for European Court ca. 1710-1763 (New York, 2007), pp. 161-2.
André-Vincent Vielliard père was a painter of figures, landscapes, trophies, patterns and flowers at Vincennes and Sèvres active from 1752 to 1790.
Christie's gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Marie-Laure de Rochebrune and Camille Leprince with the preparation of this footnote.
The present flower vase and stand is recorded in the Sèvres archive between 20 August 1756 and 1 January 1757 purchased by Lavare Duvaux (Vy 2 fol. 12):
1 Vase a Dauphin Enf. Cam. Chaires Col. Encodrés 432 (livres)
2 Vases Duplessis Bleu Cel. Enfants Coloraes 360 (livres per unit) 720 (livres for the pair)
2 pots pouris ajourés 3
The garniture is recorded intact in the Rothschild Collection until their sale in 1994. This appears to be one of the earlies garniture produced.
Comparables
Only six examples of this from appear to be recorded, one from 1754-5 in the collection of the Earls of Harewood, Harewood House, Yorkshire, another from 1755-6 is in the Mussée de Louvre, and example form the same period in the Musée des Arts Decoratif, Paris, a pair in the Wallace Collection, London, and the present vase. The examples from the Wallace Collection are discussed by Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain (London, 1988), Vol. I, pp. 62-69, nos. C215-6.
The Form
The dolphins on the present vase embody a popular motif in rococo decoration. The pierced base of the present vase was intoduced as a distinct form at Vincennes in 1754 and may alude to the birth of the Dauphin's second son (the duc du Berri, later Louis XVI) on 23 August 1754. The two-part shape, probably designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis père, is first seen in 1755 and appears in the sales records between 1755 and 1759; mostly purchased by Lazare Duvaux. During the 19th century the form was refered to by Brongniart as 'Vase gobelet á dauphins'.
The Decoration
The scenes on the present flower vase are adapted from compositions of children by François Boucher. The technique of monochrome painting with exposed flesh naturalistically coloured and pure monochrome is first seen at Vincennes in the first years of the 1750s and is refered to in the factroy archives as enfants camaïeu chaires colorées. This style probably derives from Meissen porcelain decoration. Painting en camaïeu vert was first used by Meissen circa 1745-7 on scenes derived from Watteau engravings for a toilette service delivered to Maria Amalia, Queen of Naples in 1748. The style was also used on vases and a clock case, part of a gift of porcelain from Augustus III to the Duaphin and Dauphine in late 1747. In his recently published chapter, 'Gifts of Meissen Porcelain to the French Court, 1728-50', co-written with Selma Schwartz, Jeffrey Munger points to the fact that this style of decoration fortuitously fitted with the decorative scheme of the Dauphine's newly re-furbished cabinet, see Maureen Cassidy-Geiger et. al., Fragile Diplomacy, Meissen Porcelain for European Court ca. 1710-1763 (New York, 2007), pp. 161-2.
André-Vincent Vielliard père was a painter of figures, landscapes, trophies, patterns and flowers at Vincennes and Sèvres active from 1752 to 1790.
Christie's gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Marie-Laure de Rochebrune and Camille Leprince with the preparation of this footnote.