Lot Essay
This bleu du roi porcelain ewer is of Grecian oil-jar form and, with its ormolu bacchic lion feet tripod and triangular 'altar' plinth, appears to derive in part from an antique 'wine-krater' vase illustrated in G.B. Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi..., Rome, 1778, fig. 59. Its voluted and palm-wrapped handle, emerging from the palm-and-grape enriched bowl, provides a perch for a bacchic youth, who grasps a ram's mask to regard its contents. Its serpentined ormolu-mounted rim is swagged with ribbon-tied reeds, while a satyr's mask embellishes its spout. A related pair of vases was anonymously sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 1 July 1995, lot 77.