Lot Essay
The design of these tazze is closely related to a pair in Sèvres biscuit that flanked the central Victory chariot group on the surtout-de-table designed by Alexandre Brongniart and executed for the Emperor's personal use 1807-10. The surtout as finally delivered consisted of sixteen figures and objects after Antique examples in the Musée Napoleon or inspired by them. The centre of the surtout, and its most conspicuous feature, was a chariot with two horses led by Victory and bearing the Spirit of the Arts, characterised by the symbols and the crowns he holds. Flanking the chariot were the two tazze on which these bronze and ormolu examples are based. The tazze were one of the elements of the surtout that had a direct Antique precedent, unlike the chariot. They reproduced as faithfully as possible an Antique fountain in pentelic marble acquired by the Louvre under the Treaty of Tolentino signed on February 19 1797 by Pope Pius VI and Bonaparte. The original in fact came from the Villa Adriana in Tivoli before entering the collection of the Capitoline Museum in Rome and finally that of the Musée Napoleon in Paris.
The present pair of tazze differ in proportion and the design of the central shaft from the Sèvres model and the Villa Adriana fountain. The Sèvres surtout were 43.5cm. and 40.5cm. diameter across the top which shows a squatter proportion that the present lot. This is reflected in the central shaft which is spirally-fluted and carved with small low lotus-leaves around the base. This is replaced by the smooth upper part and elongated leaves of the thinner shaft in the present lot. There are further differences to the design of the bowl itself. It is perhaps significant that the proportions of the present lot more closely resemble a Sèvres biscuit tazza called the Tripod of Apollo which was formerly associated with the Napoleon surtout but which is now thought not to be. In 1986 one of the two Sèves tazze was discovered in a Parisian antique shop and has since returned to the Louvre (S. Grandjean, 'Au Louvre: Un Biscuit Napoleonien de Sèvres', Antologia di Belle Arti, Melanges Verlet, NN 31-32, 1987, pp.3-15). Although the Napoleon surtout would have considerably raised the popularity of the design it is clear from other sources that the Adriana fountain was already well known much earlier. It appears in Adam Philippon, Curieuses Recherches de Plusieurs Morceaux d'Ornements Antiques published in 1645 and in the architectural designs of Jean Lepautre in the middle of the 18th Century (S. Grandjean, op. cit., p.5). The reason for its choice for the Sèvres surtout was clearly its victory associations as a spoil of war but it is likely that it carried considerable fame in its own right which would equally have influenced the creation of these tazze.
The present pair of tazze differ in proportion and the design of the central shaft from the Sèvres model and the Villa Adriana fountain. The Sèvres surtout were 43.5cm. and 40.5cm. diameter across the top which shows a squatter proportion that the present lot. This is reflected in the central shaft which is spirally-fluted and carved with small low lotus-leaves around the base. This is replaced by the smooth upper part and elongated leaves of the thinner shaft in the present lot. There are further differences to the design of the bowl itself. It is perhaps significant that the proportions of the present lot more closely resemble a Sèvres biscuit tazza called the Tripod of Apollo which was formerly associated with the Napoleon surtout but which is now thought not to be. In 1986 one of the two Sèves tazze was discovered in a Parisian antique shop and has since returned to the Louvre (S. Grandjean, 'Au Louvre: Un Biscuit Napoleonien de Sèvres', Antologia di Belle Arti, Melanges Verlet, NN 31-32, 1987, pp.3-15). Although the Napoleon surtout would have considerably raised the popularity of the design it is clear from other sources that the Adriana fountain was already well known much earlier. It appears in Adam Philippon, Curieuses Recherches de Plusieurs Morceaux d'Ornements Antiques published in 1645 and in the architectural designs of Jean Lepautre in the middle of the 18th Century (S. Grandjean, op. cit., p.5). The reason for its choice for the Sèvres surtout was clearly its victory associations as a spoil of war but it is likely that it carried considerable fame in its own right which would equally have influenced the creation of these tazze.