A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED DERBYSHIRE BLUE JOHN SOLID URNS

LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED DERBYSHIRE BLUE JOHN SOLID URNS
LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each ovoid body mounted with spirally twisted serpent handles hung with ribbon-tied oak leaf and acorn swags, on a stiff-leaf and flower-headed socle and stepped base, each with a paper label inscribed '9726', one marked to the base 'S264', one with a replaced marble socle, damages and old restorations
9 in. (23 cm.) high; 5 ½ in. (14 cm.) wide

Brought to you by

Carlijn Dammers

cdammers@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2482

Lot Essay

These richly figured urns have bodies shaped as eggs, evoking Ovid's Metamorphoses and the history of Jupiter and Leda. This was a popular vase form in the ormolu-enriched manufactures in both England and in France. The form relates to the illustrated design 'J' in Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill's Pattern Book I, p. 171, which documented the range of objects produced at their manufactory in Soho, Birmingham around 1770 (N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, fig. 161).

More from A Sicilian Villa, Property From An Aristocratic Family

View All