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Lot Essay
Combining porcelain featuring the flora and fauna of the Orient with mounts in the form of exotic and fantastical dragons, this pair of vases is an excellent example of the early 18th century fascination with Asian porcelain and its adaptation for the European market by the marchands-merciers of Paris.
While the gadrooned cover and rims on these vases are typical of the ornamental grammar of the Régence period, the ormolu handles in the form of dragons are rarer and indicate perhaps a transition in taste to the more whimsical and fanciful forms that would define the Rococo period. The handles derive from designs of the Louis XIV period in the Berainesque style by draughtsmen such as Jacques De Meaux (1646-?). A design preserved in the Tessin-Hårleman Collection in Stockholm depicts a vase mounted with handles terminating in opposing eagle heads in the manner of the dragons on these vases (inv. THC 823). A further drawing in the collection depicts a ewer mounted with a spout in the shape of a dragon-head similar in design to the dragons on the Weinstock vases (inv. THC 824). A Chinese porcelain vase and cover with related dragon handles of a slightly different design was sold Sotheby’s, New York, 18th November 2010, lot 202 and a ewer dating to circa 1730 mounted with a single handle surmounted by a dragon and formerly in the collection of Louis XVI and the duc d’Aumont is currently preserved in the Louvre (inv. 406), indicating the rare quality of objects using this design. A related pair of vases using similar Chinese underglaze-blue porcelain but with addorsed mermaid handles was formerly in the collection of Florence Gould (sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 25-26 June 1984, lot 726 and were subsequently in the Keck Collection, La Lanterne, Bel Air, sold Sotheby's, New York, 5 December 1991, lot 10). Further related celadon vases with mermaid instead of dragon handles and small variations to the cover mounts were sold from the Jean Bloch Collection, Paris, 13 June 1961 and Michel Meyer Collection, illustrated L'Estampille, November 1992.
The mounting of expensive and precious Chinese and Japanese objects dated to the middle ages but the early 18th century saw an intensification of diplomatic relations between the court of Louis XIV and Imperial China which resulted in renewed interest in and augmented supply of Chinese porcelain. The marchands-merciers turned to the bronziers and artisans of Paris to enrich the porcelain imported from China with ormolu mounts, thereby fuelling the development of a luxury market. Later in the reign of Louis XV marchands-merciers would become famous for providing ormolu-mounted Chinese celadon and lacquer objects to patrons like Madame de Pompadour.
THE PROVENANCE
These vases were in the collection of George Field and subsequently his son Barclay Field (1835-1892), a first-class cricketer for Marylebone Cricket Club and a Justice of the Peace for Kent. They were acquired in 1893 by Asher Wertheimer (1843-1918), a successful and influential London art dealer who commissioned the ‘Wertheimer’ portraits by John Singer Sargent currently preserved in the Tate Gallery, London. Several backgrounds of the portraits feature French decorative arts, with the portrait of Ena and Betty Wertheimer in particular showing what appears to be an ormolu-mounted celadon vase and cover on a console table, evidence of the Wertheimer family’s passion and expertise for 18th-century mounted objects.
While the gadrooned cover and rims on these vases are typical of the ornamental grammar of the Régence period, the ormolu handles in the form of dragons are rarer and indicate perhaps a transition in taste to the more whimsical and fanciful forms that would define the Rococo period. The handles derive from designs of the Louis XIV period in the Berainesque style by draughtsmen such as Jacques De Meaux (1646-?). A design preserved in the Tessin-Hårleman Collection in Stockholm depicts a vase mounted with handles terminating in opposing eagle heads in the manner of the dragons on these vases (inv. THC 823). A further drawing in the collection depicts a ewer mounted with a spout in the shape of a dragon-head similar in design to the dragons on the Weinstock vases (inv. THC 824). A Chinese porcelain vase and cover with related dragon handles of a slightly different design was sold Sotheby’s, New York, 18th November 2010, lot 202 and a ewer dating to circa 1730 mounted with a single handle surmounted by a dragon and formerly in the collection of Louis XVI and the duc d’Aumont is currently preserved in the Louvre (inv. 406), indicating the rare quality of objects using this design. A related pair of vases using similar Chinese underglaze-blue porcelain but with addorsed mermaid handles was formerly in the collection of Florence Gould (sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 25-26 June 1984, lot 726 and were subsequently in the Keck Collection, La Lanterne, Bel Air, sold Sotheby's, New York, 5 December 1991, lot 10). Further related celadon vases with mermaid instead of dragon handles and small variations to the cover mounts were sold from the Jean Bloch Collection, Paris, 13 June 1961 and Michel Meyer Collection, illustrated L'Estampille, November 1992.
The mounting of expensive and precious Chinese and Japanese objects dated to the middle ages but the early 18th century saw an intensification of diplomatic relations between the court of Louis XIV and Imperial China which resulted in renewed interest in and augmented supply of Chinese porcelain. The marchands-merciers turned to the bronziers and artisans of Paris to enrich the porcelain imported from China with ormolu mounts, thereby fuelling the development of a luxury market. Later in the reign of Louis XV marchands-merciers would become famous for providing ormolu-mounted Chinese celadon and lacquer objects to patrons like Madame de Pompadour.
THE PROVENANCE
These vases were in the collection of George Field and subsequently his son Barclay Field (1835-1892), a first-class cricketer for Marylebone Cricket Club and a Justice of the Peace for Kent. They were acquired in 1893 by Asher Wertheimer (1843-1918), a successful and influential London art dealer who commissioned the ‘Wertheimer’ portraits by John Singer Sargent currently preserved in the Tate Gallery, London. Several backgrounds of the portraits feature French decorative arts, with the portrait of Ena and Betty Wertheimer in particular showing what appears to be an ormolu-mounted celadon vase and cover on a console table, evidence of the Wertheimer family’s passion and expertise for 18th-century mounted objects.