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Lot Essay
DESIGN
Designed in the late Louis XV goût grecque style, this impressive vase reflect the influence of the ornameniste, Jean-Charles Delafosse. Although the bronzier remains anonymous, the present vase in turn relates to Prince Auguste d'Arenberg's (1753-1833) garniture sold from the collection formed by Monsieur and Madame Riahi, Christie's New York, 2 November 2000, lot 25. This latter garniture, together with another in the Frick, has been associated by T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Princeton, 1992, pp.315-320 with the Godilles, a celebrated family of Parisian fondeurs. Five members of this dynasty were fondeurs in the 18th Century:- Jean, his two sons Gabriel and André and his grandsons Louis-Gabriel and Jean-Nicolas. Related ornament can also be seen on clockcases executed by the bronzier Robert Osmond, as well as in the oeuvre of Jean-Louis Prieur.
A pair of related ormolu mounted Sèvres dark blue ground porcelain candelabra vases, dated circa 1765-70, is in the Royal Collection. This set was purchased by George IV, and recorded in 1826 at Carlton House in the Small Store Room under the Clock: ‘A pair of Blue Seve [sic] Porcelain Jars and Covers mounted in Ormolu, scroll Branches for two lights, festooned, Octagonal Bases. 12 ½ Inches high’.
E.M. HODGKINS
This vase was almost certainly in the collection of Edwin Marriott Hodgkins, illustrated as the centrepiece of a garniture in S. de Ricci, Catalogue of a Collection of Mounted Porcelain belonging to E.M. Hodgkins, Paris, 1911, p. 45. Although the vase was then described as part of a garniture, with a pair of ewers, there are notable differences to the mounts. De Ricci states that 'The original centrepiece being broken in several places, the mounts have been reset on another example of the very same vase which the owner [Hodgkins] had the good fortune to purchase in London.'
Hodgkins was a prolific London 'dealer in old china, antique furniture and works of art', trading at 110 Wardour Street, 5 King Street, 2 Pall Mall, Old Bond Street, and later 158b New Bond Street (M. Westgarth, 'A Biographical Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', The Regional Furniture Society, 2009, p. 117). He had premises in Paris, and was known to buy at Parisian auctions from where he possibly acquired the present vase; in 1910 he purchased some of the boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris, Grasse, from the descendants of Jean-Paul and Nicolas Bruery, who had acquired the chateau from the de Cabris family. This is now in the Wrightsman Galleries, New York. Hodgkins had a prestigious list of British aristocratic clients including Lords Brougham, Clifden and Countess Spencer. He also traded with many of the most well-known dealers of the late 19th century, including Henry Duveen, Messrs. Durlacher Bros. and Jacques Seligmann. From Hodgkins' account books at the Westminister City Archive it is evident that the dealers often bartered goods as part payment. Hodgkins' magnificent collection of Sèvres porcelain was acquired by the great American collector Henry Walters (d. 1931), and remains at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Designed in the late Louis XV goût grecque style, this impressive vase reflect the influence of the ornameniste, Jean-Charles Delafosse. Although the bronzier remains anonymous, the present vase in turn relates to Prince Auguste d'Arenberg's (1753-1833) garniture sold from the collection formed by Monsieur and Madame Riahi, Christie's New York, 2 November 2000, lot 25. This latter garniture, together with another in the Frick, has been associated by T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Princeton, 1992, pp.315-320 with the Godilles, a celebrated family of Parisian fondeurs. Five members of this dynasty were fondeurs in the 18th Century:- Jean, his two sons Gabriel and André and his grandsons Louis-Gabriel and Jean-Nicolas. Related ornament can also be seen on clockcases executed by the bronzier Robert Osmond, as well as in the oeuvre of Jean-Louis Prieur.
A pair of related ormolu mounted Sèvres dark blue ground porcelain candelabra vases, dated circa 1765-70, is in the Royal Collection. This set was purchased by George IV, and recorded in 1826 at Carlton House in the Small Store Room under the Clock: ‘A pair of Blue Seve [sic] Porcelain Jars and Covers mounted in Ormolu, scroll Branches for two lights, festooned, Octagonal Bases. 12 ½ Inches high’.
E.M. HODGKINS
This vase was almost certainly in the collection of Edwin Marriott Hodgkins, illustrated as the centrepiece of a garniture in S. de Ricci, Catalogue of a Collection of Mounted Porcelain belonging to E.M. Hodgkins, Paris, 1911, p. 45. Although the vase was then described as part of a garniture, with a pair of ewers, there are notable differences to the mounts. De Ricci states that 'The original centrepiece being broken in several places, the mounts have been reset on another example of the very same vase which the owner [Hodgkins] had the good fortune to purchase in London.'
Hodgkins was a prolific London 'dealer in old china, antique furniture and works of art', trading at 110 Wardour Street, 5 King Street, 2 Pall Mall, Old Bond Street, and later 158b New Bond Street (M. Westgarth, 'A Biographical Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', The Regional Furniture Society, 2009, p. 117). He had premises in Paris, and was known to buy at Parisian auctions from where he possibly acquired the present vase; in 1910 he purchased some of the boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris, Grasse, from the descendants of Jean-Paul and Nicolas Bruery, who had acquired the chateau from the de Cabris family. This is now in the Wrightsman Galleries, New York. Hodgkins had a prestigious list of British aristocratic clients including Lords Brougham, Clifden and Countess Spencer. He also traded with many of the most well-known dealers of the late 19th century, including Henry Duveen, Messrs. Durlacher Bros. and Jacques Seligmann. From Hodgkins' account books at the Westminister City Archive it is evident that the dealers often bartered goods as part payment. Hodgkins' magnificent collection of Sèvres porcelain was acquired by the great American collector Henry Walters (d. 1931), and remains at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.