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Lot Essay
The spectacular life-like mounts that embellish this superb Chinese clair-de-lune vase can be attributed to Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis (d.1774) on stylistic grounds and based on the outstanding quality of cast and ciselure.
THE ATTRIBUTION TO DUPLESSIS
Duplessis' career was quite illustrious and he is recorded as a sculptor, ceramics modeller, goldsmith, and bronzier working in the rococo manner. Despite the fact that Duplessis is today recognised as one of the most talented and influential designers and bronziers of his day there has not yet been any serious study of his oeuvre and only a few pieces can be firmly attributed to him, including a pair of ormolu braziers commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville for royal presentation in 1742 to the Ambassador of Turkey; one of which is today at the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul. With limited documented examples or indeed patterns available, attention has turned to designs for porcelain during the period 1748 to 1774 when Duplessis was artistic director at Vincennes and its successor, Sèvres. Of particular focus are the balustre rocaille vases made in soft and hard paste porcelain from circa 1750, that were named for him, 'Vase Duplessis'. A drawing for these survives in the Sèvres archive (L.H. Roth, C. Le Corbeiller, French Eighteenth-Century Porcelain at the Wadsworth Atheneum; The J. Pierpont Morgan Collection, p. 105, fig. 59-1). Examples of these porcelain vases are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (24.214.5), the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (C.357-1909). A pair in the Indianapolis Museum of Art (1993.63) is applied with gilt bronze mounts. In the early 1990s, the art historian, Ted Dell, extrapolating from Duplessis' vases for Vincennes and Sèvres, recognised Duplessis' craftsmanship in the bold Louis XV gilt-bronze mounts of a pair of dark blue Chinese porcelain vases in the Frick Collection (15.8.43-44) and tentatively suggested that the latter were part of a core group with closely comparable gilt-bronze mounts, circa 1755-60, that appear to be made by the same hand (T. Dell, The Frick Collection, Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, vol. VI, Princeton, 1992, pp. 309-314).
The present example falls into this group, demonstrating many of the recognisable characteristics of Duplessis' style, such as the homogenous unity of form and decoration suggesting that the mounts were made specifically for the vase, and the substantial and symmetrical acanthus scroll mounts of the highest quality that illustrate the superb modelling and chasing for which Duplessis is renowned. Another notable feature is the number of different surface finishes, with matt, semi-matt and burnished, as well as a variety of particularly naturalistic treatments that are used to intensify shadows and light to create a naturalistic and fluid effect (G. Sadde, 'Jean-Claude Duplessis, la liberté du style rocaille', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, no. 392, Juin 2004, pp. 42-51).
The boldly scrolling acanthus mounts that wrap around the body of this vase are identical to those found on a magnificent pair of similarly shaped hexagonal baluster-shaped blue Chinese porcelain bottle-necked vases in the Royal Collection. Formerly in the Entrance Hall at Brighton Pavilion, they were recorded in the 1829 Inventory as, 'A pair of Hexagon blue ground jars, mounted in very fine scroll leaf lips, handles and bases of ormolu, one foot seven and a half inches' (RCIN 262), and were transferred to Buckingham Palace in March 1847. This royal pair must have been acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, who as a passionate connoisseur and collector significantly added to the royal collection of ormolu-mounted oriental porcelain. While no firm attribution has yet been made for the mounts of these vases there is another large hard paste porcelain flower vase at Windsor Castle with closely related ormolu mounts, which has been attributed to Duplessis. That single vase is documented to have been sold in 1751 by the marchand-mercier, Lazare Duvaux, to Madame de Pompadour (G. Sadde, op.cit., p. 46).
Duplessis owed his position and success to a number of influential patrons, including the well-connected, Victor-Amédée de Savoie, Prince de Carignan, as well as Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson. While Duplessis held no official title and never received his maîtrise, he was widely recognised as such due to the protection and accessibility to royal circles that patronage provided. By 1758 he was listed as Orfèvre du Roi in the Sèvres account books. In his early career as a bronzier, Duplessis worked through the intermediary of marchands-merciers who specialised in ormolu-mounted objects employing the services of a bronzier as required. A number of entries in the Livre-journal of the marchand-mercier, Lazare Duvaux show that Duplessis was regularly engaged to provide mounts for Chinese porcelain referred to as celadon in the day books for the Marquis de Voyer, Monsieur Gaignat and Madame de Pompadour (L. Courajod, Livre-Journal de Lazare Duvaux, Marchand-Bijoutier Ordinaire du Roy, 1748-1758, Paris, 1873, tome II, nos. 601, 1713 and 1810). One entry for the Marquis de Voyer describes 'Deux gros vases de porcelain celadon, montées par Duplessis en bronze doré d'or moulu' at a cost of 3,000 l., a vast sum that illustrates the importance of the commission. After several years his reputation had spread and aristocratic clients such as Augustin Blondel de Gagny and the duc de Chaulnes approached him directly. As an independent bronzier, Duplessis would not only have supplied the mounts but also the porcelain. To replenish his stock of oriental porcelain he frequented the Parisian salerooms, acquiring in 1767 from la collection Jullienne 'pots pourris de porcelain d'ancien japon' and 'un grand vase de porcelain de Chine', the total bill coming to 3800 l.
THE PROVENANCE
The porcelain collection of the Earls of Harewood was considered one of the finest in England, and still includes a significant amount of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, now displayed in the Gallery at Harewood House, Yorkshire. An 1838 inventory 'List of China, Harewood House, London', that was later transferred to Yorkshire, shows that there were 97 pieces of Chinese porcelain described as 'Green' or 'Mandarin' and 15 pieces of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, including two sets of 'Three large Green Mandarin Jars with Ormolu mountings' in the 'Little Drawing Room' (WYAS, WYL250/3/Acs/519). Some of the latter was sold at auction in 1965 including two Chinese celadon vases with underglaze blue decoration and ormolu mounts that are closely related to the present vase (Christie's London, 1 July 1965, lot 49).
While not documented it is likely that the vase was acquired by Edward, Viscount Lascelles (d.1814), the eldest son and heir of the 1st Earl. Known as 'Beau' for his physical resemblance to the Prince of Wales, his reputation as a collector was already recognised during his lifetime and a contemporary diarist noted, 'Young Mr. Lascelles has a taste for the arts' (C. Kennedy, Harewood, The Life and Times of an English Country House, London, 1982, p. 124). Beau Lascelles patronised the London antique dealer, Robert Fogg of Golden Square and Regent Street buying a quantity of Sèvres and 'a pair of sea green China Jars' for £600 in 1807 (Mary Mauchline, Harewood House, London, 1974, p.117). Fogg who described himself as 'Chinaman to the Prince Regent' was one of the pre-eminent antique dealers of the Regency period. He supplied a number of prestigious clients, including in 1822 George IV with two 12 foot Pagodas comprised of Chinese porcelain plaques at a cost of £420 for Brighton Pavilion, and in July 1814, the antiquarian, William Beckford (d.1844), with 'sea-green bottles incredibly decorated with bronze'. In 1837, the diarist, Thomas Raikes (d.1848) remarked upon the 'finest collection of old china in England' in the Hanover Square property of Lord Harewood that 'Fogg, the chinaman has in vain offered Lord Harewood immense sums' but which having belonged to Beau Lascelles, was retained by the family as a souvenir of him (T. Raikes, A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes from 1831-1847, vol. 3, p.184).
A further possibility is that this vase was acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (d.1820) who was furnishing Harewood House, Yorkshire, and Roxburghe House (later also named Harewood House) in Hanover Square, London. There are entries in the 1st Earl's personal accounts that show that Fogg was supplying 'China Wares' (WYAS WYL250/3/Acs/190, 8 April 1801, 'To paid Fogg for Glass & China Wares'). Furthermore, in 1807, an invoice raised by Fogg for the 1st Earl lists a pair of 'Sea Green Vases with white rais'd flowers Mounted' for £168 (WYAS WYL250/acc4111). In 1810, the personal accounts show that the 1st Earl spent an astonishing £1,400 with Fogg (C. Kennedy, op.cit., p. 124).
COMPARABLES
With the distinctive scrolling foliate mounts and hexagonal baluster shape the vase is part of a small group of identical vases. A garniture of three vases with almost identical mounts sold 'Collection Leon Levy', Sotheby's Paris, 2 October 2008, lot 37. Another pair, possibly supplied by the London dealer, E.H. Baldock of Hanway Street, is in the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Bowhill ('Bowhill', Country Life, 19 June 1975, p. 1620, fig. 5). Other comparable vases are at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, and at Waddesdon Manor (G. de Bellaigue, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, 1974, p. 764). One almost identical pair, described as 19th century, is at Tatton Park, Cheshire (National Trust inventory no. 1296815.1).
THE ATTRIBUTION TO DUPLESSIS
Duplessis' career was quite illustrious and he is recorded as a sculptor, ceramics modeller, goldsmith, and bronzier working in the rococo manner. Despite the fact that Duplessis is today recognised as one of the most talented and influential designers and bronziers of his day there has not yet been any serious study of his oeuvre and only a few pieces can be firmly attributed to him, including a pair of ormolu braziers commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville for royal presentation in 1742 to the Ambassador of Turkey; one of which is today at the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul. With limited documented examples or indeed patterns available, attention has turned to designs for porcelain during the period 1748 to 1774 when Duplessis was artistic director at Vincennes and its successor, Sèvres. Of particular focus are the balustre rocaille vases made in soft and hard paste porcelain from circa 1750, that were named for him, 'Vase Duplessis'. A drawing for these survives in the Sèvres archive (L.H. Roth, C. Le Corbeiller, French Eighteenth-Century Porcelain at the Wadsworth Atheneum; The J. Pierpont Morgan Collection, p. 105, fig. 59-1). Examples of these porcelain vases are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (24.214.5), the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (C.357-1909). A pair in the Indianapolis Museum of Art (1993.63) is applied with gilt bronze mounts. In the early 1990s, the art historian, Ted Dell, extrapolating from Duplessis' vases for Vincennes and Sèvres, recognised Duplessis' craftsmanship in the bold Louis XV gilt-bronze mounts of a pair of dark blue Chinese porcelain vases in the Frick Collection (15.8.43-44) and tentatively suggested that the latter were part of a core group with closely comparable gilt-bronze mounts, circa 1755-60, that appear to be made by the same hand (T. Dell, The Frick Collection, Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, vol. VI, Princeton, 1992, pp. 309-314).
The present example falls into this group, demonstrating many of the recognisable characteristics of Duplessis' style, such as the homogenous unity of form and decoration suggesting that the mounts were made specifically for the vase, and the substantial and symmetrical acanthus scroll mounts of the highest quality that illustrate the superb modelling and chasing for which Duplessis is renowned. Another notable feature is the number of different surface finishes, with matt, semi-matt and burnished, as well as a variety of particularly naturalistic treatments that are used to intensify shadows and light to create a naturalistic and fluid effect (G. Sadde, 'Jean-Claude Duplessis, la liberté du style rocaille', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, no. 392, Juin 2004, pp. 42-51).
The boldly scrolling acanthus mounts that wrap around the body of this vase are identical to those found on a magnificent pair of similarly shaped hexagonal baluster-shaped blue Chinese porcelain bottle-necked vases in the Royal Collection. Formerly in the Entrance Hall at Brighton Pavilion, they were recorded in the 1829 Inventory as, 'A pair of Hexagon blue ground jars, mounted in very fine scroll leaf lips, handles and bases of ormolu, one foot seven and a half inches' (RCIN 262), and were transferred to Buckingham Palace in March 1847. This royal pair must have been acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, who as a passionate connoisseur and collector significantly added to the royal collection of ormolu-mounted oriental porcelain. While no firm attribution has yet been made for the mounts of these vases there is another large hard paste porcelain flower vase at Windsor Castle with closely related ormolu mounts, which has been attributed to Duplessis. That single vase is documented to have been sold in 1751 by the marchand-mercier, Lazare Duvaux, to Madame de Pompadour (G. Sadde, op.cit., p. 46).
Duplessis owed his position and success to a number of influential patrons, including the well-connected, Victor-Amédée de Savoie, Prince de Carignan, as well as Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson. While Duplessis held no official title and never received his maîtrise, he was widely recognised as such due to the protection and accessibility to royal circles that patronage provided. By 1758 he was listed as Orfèvre du Roi in the Sèvres account books. In his early career as a bronzier, Duplessis worked through the intermediary of marchands-merciers who specialised in ormolu-mounted objects employing the services of a bronzier as required. A number of entries in the Livre-journal of the marchand-mercier, Lazare Duvaux show that Duplessis was regularly engaged to provide mounts for Chinese porcelain referred to as celadon in the day books for the Marquis de Voyer, Monsieur Gaignat and Madame de Pompadour (L. Courajod, Livre-Journal de Lazare Duvaux, Marchand-Bijoutier Ordinaire du Roy, 1748-1758, Paris, 1873, tome II, nos. 601, 1713 and 1810). One entry for the Marquis de Voyer describes 'Deux gros vases de porcelain celadon, montées par Duplessis en bronze doré d'or moulu' at a cost of 3,000 l., a vast sum that illustrates the importance of the commission. After several years his reputation had spread and aristocratic clients such as Augustin Blondel de Gagny and the duc de Chaulnes approached him directly. As an independent bronzier, Duplessis would not only have supplied the mounts but also the porcelain. To replenish his stock of oriental porcelain he frequented the Parisian salerooms, acquiring in 1767 from la collection Jullienne 'pots pourris de porcelain d'ancien japon' and 'un grand vase de porcelain de Chine', the total bill coming to 3800 l.
THE PROVENANCE
The porcelain collection of the Earls of Harewood was considered one of the finest in England, and still includes a significant amount of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, now displayed in the Gallery at Harewood House, Yorkshire. An 1838 inventory 'List of China, Harewood House, London', that was later transferred to Yorkshire, shows that there were 97 pieces of Chinese porcelain described as 'Green' or 'Mandarin' and 15 pieces of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, including two sets of 'Three large Green Mandarin Jars with Ormolu mountings' in the 'Little Drawing Room' (WYAS, WYL250/3/Acs/519). Some of the latter was sold at auction in 1965 including two Chinese celadon vases with underglaze blue decoration and ormolu mounts that are closely related to the present vase (Christie's London, 1 July 1965, lot 49).
While not documented it is likely that the vase was acquired by Edward, Viscount Lascelles (d.1814), the eldest son and heir of the 1st Earl. Known as 'Beau' for his physical resemblance to the Prince of Wales, his reputation as a collector was already recognised during his lifetime and a contemporary diarist noted, 'Young Mr. Lascelles has a taste for the arts' (C. Kennedy, Harewood, The Life and Times of an English Country House, London, 1982, p. 124). Beau Lascelles patronised the London antique dealer, Robert Fogg of Golden Square and Regent Street buying a quantity of Sèvres and 'a pair of sea green China Jars' for £600 in 1807 (Mary Mauchline, Harewood House, London, 1974, p.117). Fogg who described himself as 'Chinaman to the Prince Regent' was one of the pre-eminent antique dealers of the Regency period. He supplied a number of prestigious clients, including in 1822 George IV with two 12 foot Pagodas comprised of Chinese porcelain plaques at a cost of £420 for Brighton Pavilion, and in July 1814, the antiquarian, William Beckford (d.1844), with 'sea-green bottles incredibly decorated with bronze'. In 1837, the diarist, Thomas Raikes (d.1848) remarked upon the 'finest collection of old china in England' in the Hanover Square property of Lord Harewood that 'Fogg, the chinaman has in vain offered Lord Harewood immense sums' but which having belonged to Beau Lascelles, was retained by the family as a souvenir of him (T. Raikes, A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes from 1831-1847, vol. 3, p.184).
A further possibility is that this vase was acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (d.1820) who was furnishing Harewood House, Yorkshire, and Roxburghe House (later also named Harewood House) in Hanover Square, London. There are entries in the 1st Earl's personal accounts that show that Fogg was supplying 'China Wares' (WYAS WYL250/3/Acs/190, 8 April 1801, 'To paid Fogg for Glass & China Wares'). Furthermore, in 1807, an invoice raised by Fogg for the 1st Earl lists a pair of 'Sea Green Vases with white rais'd flowers Mounted' for £168 (WYAS WYL250/acc4111). In 1810, the personal accounts show that the 1st Earl spent an astonishing £1,400 with Fogg (C. Kennedy, op.cit., p. 124).
COMPARABLES
With the distinctive scrolling foliate mounts and hexagonal baluster shape the vase is part of a small group of identical vases. A garniture of three vases with almost identical mounts sold 'Collection Leon Levy', Sotheby's Paris, 2 October 2008, lot 37. Another pair, possibly supplied by the London dealer, E.H. Baldock of Hanway Street, is in the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Bowhill ('Bowhill', Country Life, 19 June 1975, p. 1620, fig. 5). Other comparable vases are at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, and at Waddesdon Manor (G. de Bellaigue, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, 1974, p. 764). One almost identical pair, described as 19th century, is at Tatton Park, Cheshire (National Trust inventory no. 1296815.1).