A REGENCY ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE PORCELAIN CORAL-GROUND BALUSTER VASE

THE VASE QING, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY, THE MOUNTS CIRCA 1815

Details

A REGENCY ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE PORCELAIN CORAL-GROUND BALUSTER VASE
The vase Qing, late 18th/early 19th Century, the mounts circa 1815
Of slender baluster form with leaf-tip-cast rim and scrolled foliate handles cast wtih flowerheads, decorated with exotic birds on rocaille and bamboo trees, with the printed paper label of Chait Galleries, New York
21in. (53cm.) high

Lot Essay

This Chinese vase is mounted with voluted handles in the Grecian manner is inspired by the oeuvres of French bronziers such as Pierre-Phillippe Thomire (d.1843). This 'antique' fashion was further popularized by the connoisseur Thomas Hope with the publication of his Regency Furniture and Interior Decoration of 1807 and a similarly mounted vase is illustrated as plate XXXI.

The French 'antique' taste was favored by the Prince of Wales, later George IV, and the firm of Vulliamy headed by Benjamin Vulliamy (d.1811) and his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d1854) was employed, primarily as clockmakers, but also in the supply of decorative objects, many of which were provided through manufacturers and suppliers in France. This vase with its flattened ribbed devices at the base of the handles can be compared in treatment and design to similarly scalloped friezes on a pair of Chinese vases mounted by the Vulliamy firm for Carlton House and delivered in 1808 (Carlton House: The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, exhibition catalogue, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1991, p.96, no.48).