Lot Essay
Ormolu-mounted Chinese celadon porcelain fish were popular from the mid-18th Century and throughout the 19th Century. A ewer in the form of a carp with identical mounts is shown in the portrait of Pierre-Victor, baron de Besenval (1722-1791), painted 1790-91 by Henri-Pierre Danloux and illustrated F. Watson and G. Wilson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, p.14. Lazare Duvaux sold ten between 1750-56, of which three were to Madame de Pompadour in 1752. He sold a pair to Gaignat in 1751 for 1200 livres which are probably theose in Gabriel de Saint-Aubin's illustrated copy of the Gaignat sale in Paris 14-22 February 1769 (Emile Dacier, Catalogues de Ventes et Livrets de Salons Illustrés par Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, published by the Société de Reproduction des Dessins de Maîtres, 11 vols. (Paris 1909-21), vol. XI (1921), lot 86). Lazare Duvaux sold another pair to Blondel d'Azincourt, Intendant des Menus Plaisirs, in 1755 for 1800 livres.
The dating of this particular model of ewer is controversial, particularly as known examples, as in the case with this lot, are mounted in extremely good quality and finely chased ormolu. A pair of ewers of this model in the Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC is discussed by Sir Francis Watson in the catalogue of Mounted Oriental Porcelain, International Exhibitions Foundation, November 1986, p.92, fig. 32. This pair, formerly in the collection of Lord Hastings, is illustrated in a privately printed Catalogue of the Ornamental Furniture, Works of Art, and Porcelain, at Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk, 1901, facing page 14. The mounts on the Widener ewers, which are considered to be 18th Century, are constructed in seven sections whereas those on the present lot are in five sections. Another pair, in the Collection of the Earl of Harewood, Harewood House, Yorkshire, also considered to be 18th Century, is constructed in a very similar manner to the pair in this lot. Similar mounts on a pair of ewers at Waddesdon are considered to be 19th Century (G. de Bellaigue, The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, Fribourg, 1974, pp.766-767). It is unusual for ewers to have a spout in the form of an open tail as in the present lot. There are a number of other examples with almost identical mounts but which have a spout in the form of a fish's mouth. Examples are those at Harewood House, Yorkshire and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Archer M. Huntington Gift, 1927. A pair, belonging to Edward Arnold, was sold in these Rooms 8 June 1920, lot 73.
The dating of this particular model of ewer is controversial, particularly as known examples, as in the case with this lot, are mounted in extremely good quality and finely chased ormolu. A pair of ewers of this model in the Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC is discussed by Sir Francis Watson in the catalogue of Mounted Oriental Porcelain, International Exhibitions Foundation, November 1986, p.92, fig. 32. This pair, formerly in the collection of Lord Hastings, is illustrated in a privately printed Catalogue of the Ornamental Furniture, Works of Art, and Porcelain, at Melton Constable Hall, Norfolk, 1901, facing page 14. The mounts on the Widener ewers, which are considered to be 18th Century, are constructed in seven sections whereas those on the present lot are in five sections. Another pair, in the Collection of the Earl of Harewood, Harewood House, Yorkshire, also considered to be 18th Century, is constructed in a very similar manner to the pair in this lot. Similar mounts on a pair of ewers at Waddesdon are considered to be 19th Century (G. de Bellaigue, The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, vol. II, Fribourg, 1974, pp.766-767). It is unusual for ewers to have a spout in the form of an open tail as in the present lot. There are a number of other examples with almost identical mounts but which have a spout in the form of a fish's mouth. Examples are those at Harewood House, Yorkshire and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Archer M. Huntington Gift, 1927. A pair, belonging to Edward Arnold, was sold in these Rooms 8 June 1920, lot 73.