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拍品专文
These vases belong to a celebrated group of eleven, undoubtedly commissioned by the same marchand-mercier and all decorated with Chinoiserie decoration in Europe onto a plain underglaze-blue Chinese porcelain ground, with early Neoclassical mounts in the gôut grec. These comprise:-
-A pair of vases at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, which was formerly in the collection of Jacques Doucet, sold in Paris, 8 June 1912, lot 216, and subsequently in that of Erich von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold in Berlin, 23-25 March 1931, lot 204.
-Another pair with squared neoclassic mounts formerly in the collection of Jules Strauss, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 11 December 1999, lot 102 (FFr. 1,112,500).
-A further pair, acquired by the duc d'Aumale around 1850-70 and now in the musée Condé at Chantilly.
-A single vase sold in Paris, 13 October 1997, lot 130, and subsequently with Jacques Perrin, Paris
-A pair formerly in the collection Lehmann, sold in Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 4-5 June 1925, lot 23.
-and, finally, the pair sold by Prince Murat, Paris, 2 March 1961, lot 72. Described as being 'ancien biscuit de Chines émaillé sable et brun', they are almost certainly the present pair.
18TH CENTURY SALES
The first mention of this type of vase appears in the Inventory drawn up by Pierre Rémy following the death of Madame de Pompadour in 1764. Recorded in the Grand Salon of her hôtel d'Evreux (now the Palais d'Elysée), they are described as :- 339 Deux vazes, à l'antique, porcelain jaune cillouté, garnye de bronze doré; prise deux cent quarante livres. This uncharacteristically hesitant entry, as opposed to elsewhere, where Oriental, Sèvres and 'Saxe' porcelain are specified, reveals that he had difficulty in identifying the porcelain.
In December 1776, the sale of Blondel de Gagny's collection in Paris included, as lot 125 Deux vases de porcelaine jaune, à bandes brunes découpées, ornés d'anses formées par des serpents, collets et piédouche de bronze doré; hauteur chacune de 14 pouces, sur des socles de marbre africains encadrés de moulures de bronze doré. These vases fetched 292 livres.
THE PORCELAIN
The categoric identification of the porcelain on this group of vases remains something of an enigma. Described as being soft paste in the Doucet sale and as Chantilly porcelain in the Camondo catalogue, the porcelain of all these vases appears instead to be hard paste and of Oriental origin, but with European over-decoration. The ground colour of this pair of vases, visible around the masks, is clearly an underglaze blue. It has been suggested that the over-decoration, often with a faux craquelure, may have been executed by a painter working at the Mennecy factory. However, one should not exclude the possibility of these vases having been decorated in Holland, as was the case with many Oriental porcelains imported by the Dutch East India Company.
The foliate-crowned masks that embellish the sides of the vase derive from earlier seventeenth century prototypes in a manner that had come back in fashion in the 1760s. A similarly conceived mount features on a design for an urn clock executed by Jean Bérain circa 1680, illustrated in H.Ottomeyer and P.Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.I, p.37, fig.1.1.3.
-A pair of vases at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, which was formerly in the collection of Jacques Doucet, sold in Paris, 8 June 1912, lot 216, and subsequently in that of Erich von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, sold in Berlin, 23-25 March 1931, lot 204.
-Another pair with squared neoclassic mounts formerly in the collection of Jules Strauss, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 11 December 1999, lot 102 (FFr. 1,112,500).
-A further pair, acquired by the duc d'Aumale around 1850-70 and now in the musée Condé at Chantilly.
-A single vase sold in Paris, 13 October 1997, lot 130, and subsequently with Jacques Perrin, Paris
-A pair formerly in the collection Lehmann, sold in Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 4-5 June 1925, lot 23.
-and, finally, the pair sold by Prince Murat, Paris, 2 March 1961, lot 72. Described as being 'ancien biscuit de Chines émaillé sable et brun', they are almost certainly the present pair.
18TH CENTURY SALES
The first mention of this type of vase appears in the Inventory drawn up by Pierre Rémy following the death of Madame de Pompadour in 1764. Recorded in the Grand Salon of her hôtel d'Evreux (now the Palais d'Elysée), they are described as :- 339 Deux vazes, à l'antique, porcelain jaune cillouté, garnye de bronze doré; prise deux cent quarante livres. This uncharacteristically hesitant entry, as opposed to elsewhere, where Oriental, Sèvres and 'Saxe' porcelain are specified, reveals that he had difficulty in identifying the porcelain.
In December 1776, the sale of Blondel de Gagny's collection in Paris included, as lot 125 Deux vases de porcelaine jaune, à bandes brunes découpées, ornés d'anses formées par des serpents, collets et piédouche de bronze doré; hauteur chacune de 14 pouces, sur des socles de marbre africains encadrés de moulures de bronze doré. These vases fetched 292 livres.
THE PORCELAIN
The categoric identification of the porcelain on this group of vases remains something of an enigma. Described as being soft paste in the Doucet sale and as Chantilly porcelain in the Camondo catalogue, the porcelain of all these vases appears instead to be hard paste and of Oriental origin, but with European over-decoration. The ground colour of this pair of vases, visible around the masks, is clearly an underglaze blue. It has been suggested that the over-decoration, often with a faux craquelure, may have been executed by a painter working at the Mennecy factory. However, one should not exclude the possibility of these vases having been decorated in Holland, as was the case with many Oriental porcelains imported by the Dutch East India Company.
The foliate-crowned masks that embellish the sides of the vase derive from earlier seventeenth century prototypes in a manner that had come back in fashion in the 1760s. A similarly conceived mount features on a design for an urn clock executed by Jean Bérain circa 1680, illustrated in H.Ottomeyer and P.Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.I, p.37, fig.1.1.3.