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拍品专文
The distinctive 'draco' handles and shell spout trailed with conch shells - as well as the unusual technical feature of joining the two halves of the mount surrounding the neck - are shared with a documented group of Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain ewers. They were, therefore, in all probability executed in the same ciseleur-doreurs workshop, presumably for the same marchand-mercier.
Of the latter, the best documented is the pair with Kangxi porcelain now in the musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe et al., Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004, no. 40, pp.89-90). The Louvre vases were in the duc d'Aumont's collection, and were listed in the inventory taken following his death in 1782 as:- 689. Item deux vases céladon de ton clair a dessins de pagodes & arbustes montés en buyre & garnis de gorge, à anses de dragon & pieds en bronze doré, sur socle de serpentin (300 livres). Sold in the duc d'Aumont sale that same year, where their measurement was given as 22 pouces 6 lignes or 60cm., they were acquired for 1,340 livres by the painter Paillet for Louis XVI and entered the Museum in 1793.
Further celadon porcelain ewers within the latter group comprise:- the pair of ewers sold in the Gaignat sale, 14 February 1769, lot 102 'Deux grands Vases de porcelaine de la Chine....ces deux Vases sont garnis de pieds, collets & anses surmontés d'un dragon', which appear in a marginal drawing by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin in his own catalogue. These latter may well be those recorded in the 1759 Inventory following the death of Monsieur Gaillard de Cagny, 10 April 1759. The Gaignat vases are thought to be one of two pairs subsequently in the Dodge Collection (illustrated in A Catalogue of Works of Art in the Collection of Anna Thomson Dodge, Vol. II, Detroit, 1939) and sold from the Roberto Polo Collection, Ader Tajan, Paris, 7 November 1991, lot 115. Further ewers from this group - with these same features - include the pair from the Wrightsman Collection; a further pair sold in the duc de Choiseul Praslin sale, 18 February 1793, lot 306; a pair sold by Madame de Boissy, 11 December 1871; and a further pair in the sale of Monvoison, 14 Decmber 1841, lot 122.
Interestingly, all of the ewers in this group - as well as the Champalimaud Kakiemon pair - display heavy ciselure more often associated with ormolu executed either for Export or in Germany. It is possible, therefore, that the unknown ciseleur-doreur responsible for all these mounts was an emigré craftsman.
THE KAKIEMON PORCELAIN
Such Kakiemon high-waisted gourd-shaped vases, usually known in England as 'double' gourd-shaped, clearly derive their form from early Chinese types, including those of the Jiajing period (1522-66), with their short straight necks and wide waists, via the sophisticated version of the Transitional period, circa 1640, from which the Kakiemon shape is copied almost exactly. A Kakiemon vase of this style is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, decorated with a Chinese sage seated under a pine-tree (illustrated, Nippon Toji Zenshu, pl. 27). Further examples are in the Umezawa Kinenkan Museum, Tokyo (illustrated Sekai Toji Zenshu, no. 8, pl. 31 and Nippon Toji Zenshu no. 24, pl. 26) and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; this example, from the Reitlinger Collection, is illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, pl. 56A. The V & A and Kinen-kan Museum examples were exhibited in Fukuoka City Museum and illustrated in The Western Influence on Japanese Art, Exhibition Catalogue, pls. 45 and 46.
Of the latter, the best documented is the pair with Kangxi porcelain now in the musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe et al., Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004, no. 40, pp.89-90). The Louvre vases were in the duc d'Aumont's collection, and were listed in the inventory taken following his death in 1782 as:- 689. Item deux vases céladon de ton clair a dessins de pagodes & arbustes montés en buyre & garnis de gorge, à anses de dragon & pieds en bronze doré, sur socle de serpentin (300 livres). Sold in the duc d'Aumont sale that same year, where their measurement was given as 22 pouces 6 lignes or 60cm., they were acquired for 1,340 livres by the painter Paillet for Louis XVI and entered the Museum in 1793.
Further celadon porcelain ewers within the latter group comprise:- the pair of ewers sold in the Gaignat sale, 14 February 1769, lot 102 'Deux grands Vases de porcelaine de la Chine....ces deux Vases sont garnis de pieds, collets & anses surmontés d'un dragon', which appear in a marginal drawing by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin in his own catalogue. These latter may well be those recorded in the 1759 Inventory following the death of Monsieur Gaillard de Cagny, 10 April 1759. The Gaignat vases are thought to be one of two pairs subsequently in the Dodge Collection (illustrated in A Catalogue of Works of Art in the Collection of Anna Thomson Dodge, Vol. II, Detroit, 1939) and sold from the Roberto Polo Collection, Ader Tajan, Paris, 7 November 1991, lot 115. Further ewers from this group - with these same features - include the pair from the Wrightsman Collection; a further pair sold in the duc de Choiseul Praslin sale, 18 February 1793, lot 306; a pair sold by Madame de Boissy, 11 December 1871; and a further pair in the sale of Monvoison, 14 Decmber 1841, lot 122.
Interestingly, all of the ewers in this group - as well as the Champalimaud Kakiemon pair - display heavy ciselure more often associated with ormolu executed either for Export or in Germany. It is possible, therefore, that the unknown ciseleur-doreur responsible for all these mounts was an emigré craftsman.
THE KAKIEMON PORCELAIN
Such Kakiemon high-waisted gourd-shaped vases, usually known in England as 'double' gourd-shaped, clearly derive their form from early Chinese types, including those of the Jiajing period (1522-66), with their short straight necks and wide waists, via the sophisticated version of the Transitional period, circa 1640, from which the Kakiemon shape is copied almost exactly. A Kakiemon vase of this style is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, decorated with a Chinese sage seated under a pine-tree (illustrated, Nippon Toji Zenshu, pl. 27). Further examples are in the Umezawa Kinenkan Museum, Tokyo (illustrated Sekai Toji Zenshu, no. 8, pl. 31 and Nippon Toji Zenshu no. 24, pl. 26) and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; this example, from the Reitlinger Collection, is illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, pl. 56A. The V & A and Kinen-kan Museum examples were exhibited in Fukuoka City Museum and illustrated in The Western Influence on Japanese Art, Exhibition Catalogue, pls. 45 and 46.