CIRCA 1825, ONE INCISED 18

Details

A pair of Paris gold-ground oviform vases
Circa 1825, one incised 18
With moulded gilt scroll, anthemion and foliage handles, painted in a subdued palette with American Indians inspired by the novel Atala, one with Atala, daughter of the chieftain, trying to escape with her lover, Chactas "le Natchez", when a guard suddenly wakes up, the other with Atala, before a grotto in the jungle, dying in her lover's arms having taken poison, in the background Père Aubry, their protector, looks on, the reverses with figures in a jungle and a mountainous river landscape with palm-trees, within burnished gilt foliage rectangular cartouches, on richly gilt spreading circular stems and square bases (one handle repaired, some very minor rubbing to gilding of top rims and feet)
19¾in. (50.5cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

The novel Atala by Chateaubriand was one of the chefs d'oeuvres of French romantic literature dealing as it did with the theme of "the noble savage". The first illustrated edition appeared in 1805 with engravings by St. Aubin and Choffard after original illustrations by Stephan Barth and Garnier. These were not the source for the present vases which would appear to derive from Salon paintings rather than engraved originals.

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