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Lot Essay
This pair of wine-coolers and a further pair dated 1788 and 1781 now in the Detroit Institute of Art (Acc. no 57.67.1 and 20) previously in the Elisabeth Parke Firestone Collection, are after a design by Jean-Jacques Lagrenée (1739-1821) made by the Sèvres factory in the hard porcelain from 1771 for Marie-Antoinette's Laiterie in the park of Rambouillet Castle.
The Laiterie de la Reine at Rambouillet was built by Louis XVI for Marie-Antoinette as an elegant retreat reflecting the late eighteenth-century aristocratic passion for nature, rural life, and the perceived health benefits of dairy products. Rather than a working dairy, it was a luxurious pleasure pavilion where the queen could enjoy milk and cream in a refined pastoral setting.
Constructed between 1786 and 1788, it was designed in a highly Neoclassical style that combined the contemporary taste for rustic simplicity with inspiration drawn from the ancient world. Its decoration, furnishings, and the celebrated Sèvres porcelain service designed by Hubert Robert and Jean-Jacques Lagrenée were influenced by the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, making the dairy a sophisticated expression of both pastoral and archaeological fashion.
The design had a lasting impact and although there is no known connection between Lagrenée and Fauconnier, it is unsurprising that the latter should have been commissioned to produce them in silver. Fashioned in the shape of humble wooden buckets, Fauconnier simplified the design by only retainining two ram's head and replacing the simulated hoops with bands of laurel leaves. This is undoubtedly one of Fauconnier's most accomplished designs and a testament to the influence his mentors, Jacques Roettiers and Charles Spriman, had on his work.
The Laiterie de la Reine at Rambouillet was built by Louis XVI for Marie-Antoinette as an elegant retreat reflecting the late eighteenth-century aristocratic passion for nature, rural life, and the perceived health benefits of dairy products. Rather than a working dairy, it was a luxurious pleasure pavilion where the queen could enjoy milk and cream in a refined pastoral setting.
Constructed between 1786 and 1788, it was designed in a highly Neoclassical style that combined the contemporary taste for rustic simplicity with inspiration drawn from the ancient world. Its decoration, furnishings, and the celebrated Sèvres porcelain service designed by Hubert Robert and Jean-Jacques Lagrenée were influenced by the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, making the dairy a sophisticated expression of both pastoral and archaeological fashion.
The design had a lasting impact and although there is no known connection between Lagrenée and Fauconnier, it is unsurprising that the latter should have been commissioned to produce them in silver. Fashioned in the shape of humble wooden buckets, Fauconnier simplified the design by only retainining two ram's head and replacing the simulated hoops with bands of laurel leaves. This is undoubtedly one of Fauconnier's most accomplished designs and a testament to the influence his mentors, Jacques Roettiers and Charles Spriman, had on his work.