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Lot Essay
The rich aubergine color of this Sevres garniture is the rarest color that Sèvres produced and it is one of only three garnitures of this color known to have survived from the Eighteenth century. Called fond violet, this color was incredibly difficult to achieve as it contained oxide, a volatile agent which required precise application. Such a small handful actually survived the firing process that their production was abandoned. Sèvres had begun to produce rich monochrome colored porcelain that copied Chinese examples in the 1760s as tastes changed from the elaborately decorated porcelains to a more austere, Neoclassical aesthetic. These Sèvres monochromes lacked the typical interlaced L factory marks, possibly to further imitate Chinese porcelain, and can be identified as Sèvres by the tiny modeler’s marks on the underside of each vase. This was an established factory practice and the marks of CD and CN correlate to soft paste porcelain made in the 1760’s as recorded by Dame Rosilind Savill (R. Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, Vol. III, London, 1988, p. 1093 and 1096). A related turquoise monochrome porcelain garniture also with modeler’s marks was sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 2013, lot 38.
Only a handful of ormolu-mounted Sèvres fond violet porcelain wares are known to exist. The two other garnitures of fond violet porcelain were commissioned by Louis XV in 1768 as gifts. One went to the Controller General of Finance, Henri Leonard Jean-Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792) which is now in the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire at Chatsworth and the other was given to the renowned statesman and financier Jean-Baptiste Machault d’Arnouville, which was formerly with Maurice Segoura, Paris.
The mounts on this garniture are unusual, both stylistically and in that they differ between the three pieces. There was less emphasis on uniformity during the 18th century as a set of five vases ordered from Sèvres by Madame Adelaide as a garniture, now split between Versailles and the British Royal collection, has significant differences between the elements, but it was still regarded as a garniture. Intriguingly, the large bowknots on the vases hide signs of previous mounts. As the porcelain bodies would have been prized this substitution would not have been unusual. The Duc d’Aumont had the rococo mounts on a pair of Chinese celadon porcelain ewers replaced by Gouthière in the 1760s with ones in the more fashionable Neoclassical style; they were subsequently in the collection of the Earls of Bute and sold by the Trustees of the Luton Hoo Foundation at Christie's, London, 9 June 1994, lot 35. The later date of this garniture’s mounts would indicate that they were a similar update.
The remaining known pieces of ormolu-mounted fond violet porcelain that have survived are
--A vase ovoide, formerly in the collection of King Alfonso of Spain (1857-1885) sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 1.
--A vase ovoide, sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 1989, lot 171.
--A pair of vases from a private collection and illustrated in D. Gage, “The Chatsworth Vases, a gift from Louis XV in 1768 to Henri Léonard Bertin”, Burlington Magazine, July 2010,p.461, fig 18.
--A pair of cylindrical vases circa 1768 at the Musée National de Ceramique, Sèvres,
THE PROVENANCE
The Ducs de Rohan descended from the old kings of Brittany and during the 17th and 18th centuries were granted the title Prince Étranger habitué en France to reflect this heritage. By 1704 they had the hereditary control of the archbishopric of Strasbourg, which made them princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The de Rohans were one of the most powerful families in the French court, intertwined with the monarchs Louis XIV, XV and XVI and intermarried with France’s most powerful families. The de Rohan provenance was first recorded when the garniture was sold from the Estate of Guiseppe Rossi. As it does contain some inconsistencies, such as the mention of the château de Candé, Normandy which is not associated with the de Rohans, this provenance may be apocryphal. However, if the garniture did come from the de Rohans, one logical candidate would be Louis-Antoine-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot (1733-1807), Duc de Rohan.
Only a handful of ormolu-mounted Sèvres fond violet porcelain wares are known to exist. The two other garnitures of fond violet porcelain were commissioned by Louis XV in 1768 as gifts. One went to the Controller General of Finance, Henri Leonard Jean-Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792) which is now in the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire at Chatsworth and the other was given to the renowned statesman and financier Jean-Baptiste Machault d’Arnouville, which was formerly with Maurice Segoura, Paris.
The mounts on this garniture are unusual, both stylistically and in that they differ between the three pieces. There was less emphasis on uniformity during the 18th century as a set of five vases ordered from Sèvres by Madame Adelaide as a garniture, now split between Versailles and the British Royal collection, has significant differences between the elements, but it was still regarded as a garniture. Intriguingly, the large bowknots on the vases hide signs of previous mounts. As the porcelain bodies would have been prized this substitution would not have been unusual. The Duc d’Aumont had the rococo mounts on a pair of Chinese celadon porcelain ewers replaced by Gouthière in the 1760s with ones in the more fashionable Neoclassical style; they were subsequently in the collection of the Earls of Bute and sold by the Trustees of the Luton Hoo Foundation at Christie's, London, 9 June 1994, lot 35. The later date of this garniture’s mounts would indicate that they were a similar update.
The remaining known pieces of ormolu-mounted fond violet porcelain that have survived are
--A vase ovoide, formerly in the collection of King Alfonso of Spain (1857-1885) sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 1.
--A vase ovoide, sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 1989, lot 171.
--A pair of vases from a private collection and illustrated in D. Gage, “The Chatsworth Vases, a gift from Louis XV in 1768 to Henri Léonard Bertin”, Burlington Magazine, July 2010,p.461, fig 18.
--A pair of cylindrical vases circa 1768 at the Musée National de Ceramique, Sèvres,
THE PROVENANCE
The Ducs de Rohan descended from the old kings of Brittany and during the 17th and 18th centuries were granted the title Prince Étranger habitué en France to reflect this heritage. By 1704 they had the hereditary control of the archbishopric of Strasbourg, which made them princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The de Rohans were one of the most powerful families in the French court, intertwined with the monarchs Louis XIV, XV and XVI and intermarried with France’s most powerful families. The de Rohan provenance was first recorded when the garniture was sold from the Estate of Guiseppe Rossi. As it does contain some inconsistencies, such as the mention of the château de Candé, Normandy which is not associated with the de Rohans, this provenance may be apocryphal. However, if the garniture did come from the de Rohans, one logical candidate would be Louis-Antoine-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot (1733-1807), Duc de Rohan.