Lot Essay
The unusual form and quality of the ormolu mounts suggests that these vases were almost certainly not made in France, but probably in Northern Europe. A pair of vases with similar angled handles surmounted by a patera, acquired by Sir Fairfax Cartwright, British Ambassador to Vienna from 1906 to 1913 for Aynhoe Park, Northamptonshire, was sold by Mrs. Elisabeth Cartwright-Hignett in these Rooms, 4 December 1986, lot 35.