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Lot Essay
This delicate Louis XVI ormolu and Chinese porcelain garniture of three vases – comprising a large central vase and a pair of vases ensuite – has miraculously remained united. The bodies are made of Qianlong period porcelain in light blue with white, underglaze dark blue and iron-red floral decoration; these are fitted with a number of finely-chased mounts including garlands and masks and various geometric motifs. The fashion for ormolu-mounted oriental porcelain was given new impetus in the mid-18th century through the role of Parisian marchand-merciers, who provided designs, oversaw the production, and sold these costly wares to their clientele. The Livre-Journal of the marchand Lazare Duvaux – covering his activity between 1749 and his death in 1758, frequently lists this type of mounted Chinese porcelain in light hues, including numerous sales to Madame de Pompadour (d. 1764). A younger generation of marchands-merciers continued Duvaux’s activities, experimenting in the latest Neo-Classical styles and developing larger and more varied garnitures, such as the present example.
The beautiful porcelain on the present vases, known as celadon bleu fleuri was highly prized by marchand and collector alike and a number of comparable vases with lavish gilt-bronze mounts of the same period as those on the present lot are known in important and prestigious collections. A garniture of vases from the Horace Wood Brock Collection exhibited at in 2013-2014 at the Frick Collection, New York (Precision and Splendor: Clocks and Watches at The Frick Collection) consists of celadon vases of similar form mounted with slightly earlier goût grec mounts dating to circa 1764 and with the central vase adapted into a clock. A related pair of vases with similar porcelain and gilt-bronze handles modelled as putto joined by swags dating to circa 1770 is currently in the Getty Museum (inv. no. 2015.68) and a further related single vase goût grec identical to the Horace Wood Brock garniture was sold; The Martin Cohen Collection, Bonham’s, New York, 6 October 2020, lot 147. These related vases with similarly lavish French gilt-bronze mounts produced over a period of more than a decade demonstrate the perpetual and enduring value and desirability of rare celadon bleu fleuri and its employment by the marchands for mounts of evolving design.
The mounts on the central vase of the present lot are identical to the mounts on a pair of vases attributed to Pierre Gouthière (1732–1813) that were in the collection of the celebrated patron of art François-Michel Harenc de Presle (offered as lot 48 in this sale). Identical mounts also feature on vases in the collection of Baron Leopold Double (d. 1881) and in the fabled collection of couturier Jacques Doucet (d. 1929). The mounts of the central vase on the present lot were clearly executed by a bronzier with knowledge of Gouthière’s oeuvre as they are not only identical in design to the Harenc de Presle mounts but also draw on other design devices used by Gouthière.The ornamental device of a goats head combined with grape vines is one frequently employed by Gouthière. The goats head handles on the present lot relate directly to the mounts on a number of pieces by Gouthière including a chimneypiece commissioned for Madame du Barry’s Salon Ovale at Louveciennes (illustrated C. Vignon & C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière, New York, 2016, pp.250-251), which shows the same goats heads above trailing vines and grapes of almost identical character to the swags on the present lot, as well as a vase which shows a related goats head handle commissioned for the duc d’Aumont and sold in his sale as lot 12 where it was acquired by Louis XVI (illustrated op. cit. pp.192-193). The vine swags of the present lot relate closely to those on an incense burner commissioned by the Duc d’Aumont and sold in his sale as lot 24 where it was acquired by Marie-Antoinette (illustrated op. cit. pp. 196-197) and one of a pair of ewers acquired by Tsar Paul I in Paris in 1799 (illustrated op. cit. p.168) which varies in ram handles rather than goat heads but displays closely related vine leaf swags. The goat head and vine leaf motif is also combined, with variations to the design, on a pair of candelabra commissioned by the duc d’Aumont (illustrated op. cit. pp. 218-219).
The beautiful porcelain on the present vases, known as celadon bleu fleuri was highly prized by marchand and collector alike and a number of comparable vases with lavish gilt-bronze mounts of the same period as those on the present lot are known in important and prestigious collections. A garniture of vases from the Horace Wood Brock Collection exhibited at in 2013-2014 at the Frick Collection, New York (Precision and Splendor: Clocks and Watches at The Frick Collection) consists of celadon vases of similar form mounted with slightly earlier goût grec mounts dating to circa 1764 and with the central vase adapted into a clock. A related pair of vases with similar porcelain and gilt-bronze handles modelled as putto joined by swags dating to circa 1770 is currently in the Getty Museum (inv. no. 2015.68) and a further related single vase goût grec identical to the Horace Wood Brock garniture was sold; The Martin Cohen Collection, Bonham’s, New York, 6 October 2020, lot 147. These related vases with similarly lavish French gilt-bronze mounts produced over a period of more than a decade demonstrate the perpetual and enduring value and desirability of rare celadon bleu fleuri and its employment by the marchands for mounts of evolving design.
The mounts on the central vase of the present lot are identical to the mounts on a pair of vases attributed to Pierre Gouthière (1732–1813) that were in the collection of the celebrated patron of art François-Michel Harenc de Presle (offered as lot 48 in this sale). Identical mounts also feature on vases in the collection of Baron Leopold Double (d. 1881) and in the fabled collection of couturier Jacques Doucet (d. 1929). The mounts of the central vase on the present lot were clearly executed by a bronzier with knowledge of Gouthière’s oeuvre as they are not only identical in design to the Harenc de Presle mounts but also draw on other design devices used by Gouthière.The ornamental device of a goats head combined with grape vines is one frequently employed by Gouthière. The goats head handles on the present lot relate directly to the mounts on a number of pieces by Gouthière including a chimneypiece commissioned for Madame du Barry’s Salon Ovale at Louveciennes (illustrated C. Vignon & C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière, New York, 2016, pp.250-251), which shows the same goats heads above trailing vines and grapes of almost identical character to the swags on the present lot, as well as a vase which shows a related goats head handle commissioned for the duc d’Aumont and sold in his sale as lot 12 where it was acquired by Louis XVI (illustrated op. cit. pp.192-193). The vine swags of the present lot relate closely to those on an incense burner commissioned by the Duc d’Aumont and sold in his sale as lot 24 where it was acquired by Marie-Antoinette (illustrated op. cit. pp. 196-197) and one of a pair of ewers acquired by Tsar Paul I in Paris in 1799 (illustrated op. cit. p.168) which varies in ram handles rather than goat heads but displays closely related vine leaf swags. The goat head and vine leaf motif is also combined, with variations to the design, on a pair of candelabra commissioned by the duc d’Aumont (illustrated op. cit. pp. 218-219).