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Lot Essay
The monumental scale of this magnificent pair of Swedish Blyberg porphyry vases suggests they were a Royal commission. Various related porphyry items were intended as gifts by the francophile King of Sweden, Maréchal Bernadotte, who reigned as Karl XIV Johann from 1818-44, and whose family owned the porphyry mines. The King presented numerous porphyry objéts to Napoléon's Maréchaux and other dignitaries, which explains why many porphyry examples can be found in France today.
Undoubtedly inspired by antique krater vases such as the 'Borghese' and 'Medici' vases, which had been 'rediscovered' in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, and illustrated in Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne (1778-80), these vases correspond to C.F. Sundvall's designs for porphyry and granite vases, executed around 1788-90. The design remained fashionable, featuring in the 1805 price catalogue issued by the porphyry manufactory in Elfdal (Älvdalen), Sweden (Porphyre, La Pierre Royale, Paris, 1990).
Porphyry was first discovered in Sweden at Älvdalen in 1731 but was not commercially exploited until after 1788 by Eric Hagström under the direction of Nils Adam Bielke. For several decades the workshops produced vases, urns and other monumental vessels often mounted with ormolu mounts either made in Sweden or mounted in France. The works were purchased by Bernadotte in 1818 and stayed in Royal ownership until 1856. Bernadotte used the production of primarily Empire objects in porphyry and related granite to disseminate the Empire style that he had brought from France.
Undoubtedly inspired by antique krater vases such as the 'Borghese' and 'Medici' vases, which had been 'rediscovered' in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, and illustrated in Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne (1778-80), these vases correspond to C.F. Sundvall's designs for porphyry and granite vases, executed around 1788-90. The design remained fashionable, featuring in the 1805 price catalogue issued by the porphyry manufactory in Elfdal (Älvdalen), Sweden (Porphyre, La Pierre Royale, Paris, 1990).
Porphyry was first discovered in Sweden at Älvdalen in 1731 but was not commercially exploited until after 1788 by Eric Hagström under the direction of Nils Adam Bielke. For several decades the workshops produced vases, urns and other monumental vessels often mounted with ormolu mounts either made in Sweden or mounted in France. The works were purchased by Bernadotte in 1818 and stayed in Royal ownership until 1856. Bernadotte used the production of primarily Empire objects in porphyry and related granite to disseminate the Empire style that he had brought from France.