THE MOUNTS CIRCA 1765, THE PORCELAIN 18TH CENTURY

In both character and the chasing of the entwined serpents, this vase is closely related to three ormolu-mounted porphyry vases in the Wallace Collection (P.Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture III, London, 1996, F355-7, pp.1378-80 and pp.1386-9). Of these, the slightly earlier single vase was almost certainly noted by the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hbert in the salon of Blondel de Gagny's htel in 1766; subsequently sold in the Blondel de Gagny sale, 10 December 1776-22 January 1777 as lot 410, it was described as Un grand vase avec son couvercle, de 20 pouces de hauteur, garni d'anses, composs chacun de deux serpens entrelasss....1,475 livres. Interestingly, Hbert's description noted that the vase was par Auguste, the goldsmith Robert-Joseph Auguste (matre in 1757), and thus the latter could conceivably also have been responsible for the Alexander vase.

Reminiscent of those on a vase engraved by Stefano della Bella (1610-64) in his Raccolta di Vasi Diversi of 1646, such serpent handles were clearly fashionable in the late Louis XV period. A design by Franois Boucher for a vase with related entwined-serpent mounts (Stockholm, National Museum, coll. Tessin 2110) is illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dors Franais du XVIIIe sicle, 1987, p. 163, ill. 198.