LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLUE NOUVEAU VASE AND COVER (VASE 'A RUBAN,' 1ERE GRANDEUR)

BLUE INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTER Q FOR 1769, PAINTER'S MARK FOR ASSELIN

Details

LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLUE NOUVEAU VASE AND COVER (VASE 'A RUBAN,' 1ERE GRANDEUR)
Blue interlaced L's enclosing date letter Q for 1769, painter's mark for Asselin
Of ovoid shape, the spreading foot with gadrooning below a horizontal band of white enameled pearls, the scrolling tall figure-9 handles with moulded wheat sheaf appliques, the bleu nouveau ground reserved with oval cartouches decorated in brilliant colours after Watteau with three court figures in a garden painted in the style of Watteau, the reserve with a colourful flower arrangement within gilt ciselé bands, gilt oak-leaf garlands applied on the blue ground, the neck with ribbon motif supporting the dome-shaped cover with gilt floriform knob, the vase mounted on a chamfered square tiered base chased with scrolls, foliage and anthemion
16¼in. (41.7cm.) high

Provenance

P.A.B. Widener Collection; Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York, 20 June 1974, lot 149
The Christner Collection; Christie's, New York, 30 November - 1 December 1979, lot 229

Literature

Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, p. 243.
Cf. Bunet, Sèvres, fig. 175, where a similar vase in the Louvre is illustrated.

Lot Essay

Also know as a vase à couronnes, the present model was likely designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis. See Savill, op. cit., pp. 233-244 for an in depth discussion of the model, its variations, and the example in the Wallace Collection.

The decoration is taken from an engraving of Watteau's painting of the same subject entitle L'Avanturière. Cf. Emile Dacier & Albert Vuaflart, Jean de Jullienne et les Graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe Siècle

Charles-Eloi Asselin, active a Sèvres as a painter of figures and patterns, 1765-1800.

More from Important French and Continental Furniture, Porcelain

View All