This vase is of identical design and may well have formed the pair to the complete example, with its original socle, now in the Louvre (Cat. C, no. 408), discussed in P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorées Français du XVIII siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 61-2, no. 58. Verlet incorrectly identified this vase with the celebrated garniture -trois superbes vases de porphyre montés tous les trois trés richement en bronze doré d'or moulu- acquired by the marquis de Marigny, brother of madame de Pompadour, for his Parisian hôtel in the rue Saint-Thomas. This garniture is mentioned in the protracted negotiations of 1778, in which Marigny, Directeur Général des Bâtiments, Arts, Académies et Manufactures Royales, attempted to cede parts of his collection to the Crown in exchange for money and favours. The Louvre vase remained at the château de Tuileries until the Second Empire