.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749.
This striking pair of ormolu-mounted Guan-style celadon pot pourri vases is notable for its relation to an important group of ormolu-mounted objects, all sharing one or more mounts of the same model but applied to porcelain and lacquer bodies of various types. The distinctive pale blue tone of the porcelain with the large-scale crackle glaze, strengthens this link and draws comparison with a sub-group, within this wider group, of pot-pourri vases with domed lids. This group comprises: a pair formerly in the George Byng Collection, Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire, sold Christie's, London, 10 December 1992, lot 213; later sold Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière I: Chefs-d’oeuvre, Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 October 2022, lot 44 (930,400 EUR), which like the present pair are both struck multiple times with the 'C' couronné; another pair sold Christie's, Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 93, entered the Dimitri Mavrommatis Collection, Paris, and sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 15; one of which is stamped with the 'C' couronné; and a third pair formerly in the collection of Colonel and Madame Jacques Balsan; sold Christie's London, 30 May 1968, most recently sold anonymously, Sotheby's, Paris, 9 April 2008, lot 98.
THE FORM
This form is recorded in a drawing circa 1770-85, as part of the album sent by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre to the Duke and Duchess of Teschen, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum (acc. no. 61.680.1.8). On a sheet devoted to Rococo-style objects from the middle of the century, the covered vase numbered 'XV' appears remarkably similar to the present group of pots-pourris. Daguerre’s vase is constructed with a waist-mount in which the pierced apertures clearly slope towards a floral boss at the middle, handles of a similar form, and a base-mount of similarly-composed opposing scrolls. The porcelain is clearly drawn with lines of craquelure, and the caption specifies that the colour of the glaze is 'un peu sur un gris plûtot bleuatre que verdatre'. The obvious difference in the pair offered here is the use of a flat, rather than domed lid.
A Louis XV ormolu-mounted blue-glazed porcelain covered pot-pourri vase with a waist mount matching this pair was sold L’Art du Luxe: Masterpieces of French Furniture, Christie’s, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 50 ($201,600). A related Louis XV ormolu-mounted Guan-style bowl, acquired by George IV, is held the Royal Collection (RCIN 15) accompanied by a ewer or vase (RCIN 16), both of which were at Brighton Pavillion.
ATTRIBUTION
Multiple scholars have proposed that the group is likely the work of a single bronzier, though his identity has yet to be determined (see F.J.B. Watson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1999, p. 70 and T. Dell, Furniture in The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue, VI, New York, 1992, pp. 302-306). The question of their authorship has been a debate for a notably long period: in his commentary on the examples in the Frick Collection, Theodore Dell discusses an earlier attribution to either Thomas Germain or Pierre Germain II originating in the late 19th century. Dell remarks, however, that this early hypothesis was based on a misreading of the 'C' couronné mark and should be disregarded. Among the group, objects are variously unstamped, stamped multiple times or stamped only once with the 'C' couronné, implying that they were largely produced in the second half of the 1740s. A clear explanation of the inconsistent use of the crowned C will almost certainly never be known, though it has invited speculation about the process through which the objects were made. The lot essay accompanying the pair sold from the Byng Collection at Christie’s in 1992, for example, posits that it 'might indicate that they were first made after the repeal of the tax in 1749 but largely using mounts made within the period of the tax'.
GUAN-STYLE PORCELAIN
Crackle-glazed celadon porcelain of this type is known as Guan or Ge ware. It was initially created under the Song dynasty (960-1279) but was revived under the Qing emperors. Around 1730-1750 unmarked examples were seen on the French market, where they were embellished by bronziers commissioned by marchand-merciers to create sought after objets du luxe. It was referred to by contemporary merchants and collectors as ‘porcelaine truittée’, so-named for the resemblance between its crazed figuring and the scales of a trout fish. As Parisian taste shifted away from the blue-and-white Chinese wares preferred by earlier collectors, a preference emerged for objects of more varied colour, with both polychrome enameling and striking monochrome glazes being particularly favoured. Prices recorded for objects described as 'truittée' reached remarkable levels: on 22 April 1757, for example, Duvaux sold a garniture of vases to the duc d’Orléans for the immense sum of 2,960 livres.
A.C.J. WALL
Archibald C.J. Wall (1889-1969) was a successful businessman and industrialist born in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. He assembled an outstanding collection of English eighteenth-century furniture together with important ceramics, gold boxes, silver, paintings, works of art and Chinese porcelain, which he housed at Middleton Park in Oxfordshire, after purchasing the estate in 1946 from the 9th Earl of Jersey.
Wall was also well known for his contributions to the artistic community in Birmingham and was a notable patron and collector of the work of Sir Jacob Epstein (1880–1959). In 1933, he commissioned a bronze portrait bust from Epstein, sold Christie’s, South Kensington, 14 July 2011, lot 188. He also sat for a celebrated portrait by the Birmingham-born artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst. After his death, parts of Wall’s collection were loaned to Birmingham’s Aston Hall Museum before being dispersed at a series of sales at Christie’s beginning in 1970. His wider collection gained an international reputation, with many objects offered at auction acquired by leading museums worldwide including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
MIDDLETON PARK
Middleton Park was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in collaboration with his son Robert for the Earl of Jersey between 1934 and 1938. Built on the site of an earlier 1750s house, Middleton was to be Lutyens' last great country house before the Second World War broke out. It is atypical for an English country house, the roofline, long sash windows and shutters are clearly inspired by French 17th century chateaux. Wall purchased the house from the 9th Earl of Jersey in 1946 and it was featured in a two-part Country Life article on 5 and 12 July 1946. Frustratingly, this must have been at the point of purchase, as the striking interiors are shown empty in the photographs, yet to be filled with Wall's impressive collection of art.
This striking pair of ormolu-mounted Guan-style celadon pot pourri vases is notable for its relation to an important group of ormolu-mounted objects, all sharing one or more mounts of the same model but applied to porcelain and lacquer bodies of various types. The distinctive pale blue tone of the porcelain with the large-scale crackle glaze, strengthens this link and draws comparison with a sub-group, within this wider group, of pot-pourri vases with domed lids. This group comprises: a pair formerly in the George Byng Collection, Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire, sold Christie's, London, 10 December 1992, lot 213; later sold Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière I: Chefs-d’oeuvre, Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 October 2022, lot 44 (930,400 EUR), which like the present pair are both struck multiple times with the 'C' couronné; another pair sold Christie's, Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 93, entered the Dimitri Mavrommatis Collection, Paris, and sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 15; one of which is stamped with the 'C' couronné; and a third pair formerly in the collection of Colonel and Madame Jacques Balsan; sold Christie's London, 30 May 1968, most recently sold anonymously, Sotheby's, Paris, 9 April 2008, lot 98.
THE FORM
This form is recorded in a drawing circa 1770-85, as part of the album sent by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre to the Duke and Duchess of Teschen, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum (acc. no. 61.680.1.8). On a sheet devoted to Rococo-style objects from the middle of the century, the covered vase numbered 'XV' appears remarkably similar to the present group of pots-pourris. Daguerre’s vase is constructed with a waist-mount in which the pierced apertures clearly slope towards a floral boss at the middle, handles of a similar form, and a base-mount of similarly-composed opposing scrolls. The porcelain is clearly drawn with lines of craquelure, and the caption specifies that the colour of the glaze is 'un peu sur un gris plûtot bleuatre que verdatre'. The obvious difference in the pair offered here is the use of a flat, rather than domed lid.
A Louis XV ormolu-mounted blue-glazed porcelain covered pot-pourri vase with a waist mount matching this pair was sold L’Art du Luxe: Masterpieces of French Furniture, Christie’s, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 50 ($201,600). A related Louis XV ormolu-mounted Guan-style bowl, acquired by George IV, is held the Royal Collection (RCIN 15) accompanied by a ewer or vase (RCIN 16), both of which were at Brighton Pavillion.
ATTRIBUTION
Multiple scholars have proposed that the group is likely the work of a single bronzier, though his identity has yet to be determined (see F.J.B. Watson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1999, p. 70 and T. Dell, Furniture in The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue, VI, New York, 1992, pp. 302-306). The question of their authorship has been a debate for a notably long period: in his commentary on the examples in the Frick Collection, Theodore Dell discusses an earlier attribution to either Thomas Germain or Pierre Germain II originating in the late 19th century. Dell remarks, however, that this early hypothesis was based on a misreading of the 'C' couronné mark and should be disregarded. Among the group, objects are variously unstamped, stamped multiple times or stamped only once with the 'C' couronné, implying that they were largely produced in the second half of the 1740s. A clear explanation of the inconsistent use of the crowned C will almost certainly never be known, though it has invited speculation about the process through which the objects were made. The lot essay accompanying the pair sold from the Byng Collection at Christie’s in 1992, for example, posits that it 'might indicate that they were first made after the repeal of the tax in 1749 but largely using mounts made within the period of the tax'.
GUAN-STYLE PORCELAIN
Crackle-glazed celadon porcelain of this type is known as Guan or Ge ware. It was initially created under the Song dynasty (960-1279) but was revived under the Qing emperors. Around 1730-1750 unmarked examples were seen on the French market, where they were embellished by bronziers commissioned by marchand-merciers to create sought after objets du luxe. It was referred to by contemporary merchants and collectors as ‘porcelaine truittée’, so-named for the resemblance between its crazed figuring and the scales of a trout fish. As Parisian taste shifted away from the blue-and-white Chinese wares preferred by earlier collectors, a preference emerged for objects of more varied colour, with both polychrome enameling and striking monochrome glazes being particularly favoured. Prices recorded for objects described as 'truittée' reached remarkable levels: on 22 April 1757, for example, Duvaux sold a garniture of vases to the duc d’Orléans for the immense sum of 2,960 livres.
A.C.J. WALL
Archibald C.J. Wall (1889-1969) was a successful businessman and industrialist born in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. He assembled an outstanding collection of English eighteenth-century furniture together with important ceramics, gold boxes, silver, paintings, works of art and Chinese porcelain, which he housed at Middleton Park in Oxfordshire, after purchasing the estate in 1946 from the 9th Earl of Jersey.
Wall was also well known for his contributions to the artistic community in Birmingham and was a notable patron and collector of the work of Sir Jacob Epstein (1880–1959). In 1933, he commissioned a bronze portrait bust from Epstein, sold Christie’s, South Kensington, 14 July 2011, lot 188. He also sat for a celebrated portrait by the Birmingham-born artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst. After his death, parts of Wall’s collection were loaned to Birmingham’s Aston Hall Museum before being dispersed at a series of sales at Christie’s beginning in 1970. His wider collection gained an international reputation, with many objects offered at auction acquired by leading museums worldwide including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
MIDDLETON PARK
Middleton Park was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in collaboration with his son Robert for the Earl of Jersey between 1934 and 1938. Built on the site of an earlier 1750s house, Middleton was to be Lutyens' last great country house before the Second World War broke out. It is atypical for an English country house, the roofline, long sash windows and shutters are clearly inspired by French 17th century chateaux. Wall purchased the house from the 9th Earl of Jersey in 1946 and it was featured in a two-part Country Life article on 5 and 12 July 1946. Frustratingly, this must have been at the point of purchase, as the striking interiors are shown empty in the photographs, yet to be filled with Wall's impressive collection of art.