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Lot Essay
These mounts are related to those on a vase in the Forsyth Wickes Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (illustrated in Sir Francis Watson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain, Washington, 1986, p. 100, fig. 36). As the author noted, the marchand-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux sold a number of vases of this character, for instance that sold to the marquise du Pompadour on 6 December 1751. Duvaux is known to have employed the bronzier Jean-Claude Duplessis to mount Chinese export porcelain (cf. the vase sold to the marquis de Voyer, 21 August 1753 - La Monture en cuivre ciselé d'un vase du porcelaine bleu, payée à M. Duplessis). Any firm attribution to a specific bronzier, however, is not possible. Both Thomas Germain (d. 1748), orfèvre du roi, and Jacques Caffiéri (d. 1755) have been suggested as possible attributions, and a finial of closely related form appears on the lid of a silver sucrier from the Nécessaire du voyage of Queen Marie Lesczinska, with Paris hallmark for 1729-30.
The distinctive coral finial appeared on a pair of vases in the Gaillard de Gagny sale, 29 March 1762: le dessus des couvercles est enrichi d'une platforme en ornement avec du corail, & une espece de conque de Triton, as well as on a pair of Japanese lacquer bowls believed to have come from the collection of Madame du Pompadour at the Château de Bellevue and now in the Louvre (see: P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, fig. 165, p. 127). Further related finials appear on vases in the Wallace Collection (F115: illustrated in D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinesisches und Japanisches Porzellan in europäischen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p. 267, abb. 185); two vases in the Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco (ibid., p. 267, abb. 186 and p. 323, abb. 304); a fountain in the Victoria and Albert Museum (ibid., p. 271, abb. 192); a pot-pourri in the Wrightsman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, II: Furniture, Gilt Bronze and Mounted Porcelain, Carpets, New York, 1966, no. 246, pp. 436-7): a pair of pots-pourris, sold by Colonel and Madame Jacques Balsan in these Rooms, 30 May 1968, lot 27; and another pair in the Cincinatti Museum of Art; another, sold by the Trustees of teh Luton Hoo Foundation in these Rooms, 9 June 1994, lot 34; and that in The Frick Collection, New York (illustrated ibid., p. 72, fig. 22).
The distinctive coral finial appeared on a pair of vases in the Gaillard de Gagny sale, 29 March 1762: le dessus des couvercles est enrichi d'une platforme en ornement avec du corail, & une espece de conque de Triton, as well as on a pair of Japanese lacquer bowls believed to have come from the collection of Madame du Pompadour at the Château de Bellevue and now in the Louvre (see: P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, fig. 165, p. 127). Further related finials appear on vases in the Wallace Collection (F115: illustrated in D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinesisches und Japanisches Porzellan in europäischen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p. 267, abb. 185); two vases in the Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco (ibid., p. 267, abb. 186 and p. 323, abb. 304); a fountain in the Victoria and Albert Museum (ibid., p. 271, abb. 192); a pot-pourri in the Wrightsman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, II: Furniture, Gilt Bronze and Mounted Porcelain, Carpets, New York, 1966, no. 246, pp. 436-7): a pair of pots-pourris, sold by Colonel and Madame Jacques Balsan in these Rooms, 30 May 1968, lot 27; and another pair in the Cincinatti Museum of Art; another, sold by the Trustees of teh Luton Hoo Foundation in these Rooms, 9 June 1994, lot 34; and that in The Frick Collection, New York (illustrated ibid., p. 72, fig. 22).