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拍品專文
This model is first recorded in the Livre-Journal of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux in 1750. On 16 October, Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour, (née Antoinette Poisson) acquired '621. Du 10 Mme la Marq. de Pompadour..Quatre morceaux de porcelaine céladon, dont deux en forme de cornets & deux poissons, le tout garni en bronze doré d'or moulu'. In 1752, the marquise bought a further deux poissons céladon (cabinet de Versailles) and the taste was rapidly echoed throughout the Court, particularly amateurs like M. Gaignat, Jean de Juliennne and Blondel d'Azincourt.
Duvaux's Livre-Journal reveals the discrepancy in cost between the varying models and the quality of the ciseleur, although the cost of the porcelain itself far exceeded that of the ormolu mounts. Thus, Watteau's great patron Jean de Julienne's pair, acquired from Duvaux on the 27 June 1753 and described as 'Deux poissons de porcelaine céladon, formant des cruches, montés en bronze doré d'or moulu cost 960 livres'; in 1751 M. Gaignat acquired 'Deux poissons d'ancienne porcelaine céladon, garnis en bronze doré d'or moulu, form de buire', which this time cost 1200 livres; finally, the pair acquired by Blondel d'Azincourt, the Intendant des Menus-Plaisirs and a most exacting patron, were almost double the first - 17 October 1755 'M. d'Azincourt..Deux poissons aussi céladon montés en buires, 1800 l'.
A clearer understanding of the relative costs of such elaborate ormolu mounts vis-à-vis the porcelain can be gleaned again from Duvaux, who in 1752 supplied Madame de Pompadour with 'Quatre pieds à contours en cuivre ciselé doré d'or moulu pour deux petits vases de porcelain brune & deux poissons céladon (Cabinet de Versailles), [42 l]'.
The enduring popularity of the model throughout the second half of the 18th century is confirmed both through Duvaux's Livre-Journal and the comparatively high proliferation of this model in 18th century sale catalogues and Inventories. Indeed, even as the ancien régime was crumbling, Louis XVI's Commander-in-Chief of the ill-fated Swiss Guards, the Baron de Besenval, was immortalised in Henri-Pierre Danloux's 1791 portrait with just such a pair of vases upon the mantelpiece. This seminal picture of aristocratic cabinets d'amateurs has recently been secured by the National Gallery in London.
A sublime reflection of the pittoresque fantasy in the full-blown Rococo style, this form of ewer was only ever intended as ornamental. Although distinctive, categoric identification of this model in 18th century sales records is nigh on impossible owing to both the brief descriptions and the fact that three closely related models were executed, all presumably by the same bronzier working for Duvaux. These three models comprise:-
VASES OF THE WILDENSTEIN MODEL, WITH THE FISHES MOUTH AS A SPOUT;
-a pair at Harewood House, Yorkshire; these also have the same ormolu plate to the underside; a pair sold from the collection of Conseulo Vanderbilt, Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1994, lot 136;
-a pair sold by Lord Robert Crichton-Stuart, Christie's London, 3 July 1959, lot 114;
-a garniture of three in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (Isabel Pereira Coutinho, Gulbenkian Museum, 1998, no.100, p.126); The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1927.165; 1927.166).
VASES WITH THE TAIL AS THE SPOUT: these include the pair from the Hastings Collection at Melton Constable, Norfolk, now in the Widener collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (discussed in Sir Francis Watson, 'Mounted Oriental Porcelain', Exhibition Catalogue, Washington, 1986, no.32).
VASES IN THE FORM OF PAIRED CARP, such as the central vase of the Gulbenkian Garniture cited above, as well as that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in J. Lunsingh Scheerler, Chinesisches und Japanisches Porzellan in europaîschen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p.336, fig. 329); as well as those offered anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 3 May 1986, lot 40.
Duvaux's Livre-Journal reveals the discrepancy in cost between the varying models and the quality of the ciseleur, although the cost of the porcelain itself far exceeded that of the ormolu mounts. Thus, Watteau's great patron Jean de Julienne's pair, acquired from Duvaux on the 27 June 1753 and described as 'Deux poissons de porcelaine céladon, formant des cruches, montés en bronze doré d'or moulu cost 960 livres'; in 1751 M. Gaignat acquired 'Deux poissons d'ancienne porcelaine céladon, garnis en bronze doré d'or moulu, form de buire', which this time cost 1200 livres; finally, the pair acquired by Blondel d'Azincourt, the Intendant des Menus-Plaisirs and a most exacting patron, were almost double the first - 17 October 1755 'M. d'Azincourt..Deux poissons aussi céladon montés en buires, 1800 l'.
A clearer understanding of the relative costs of such elaborate ormolu mounts vis-à-vis the porcelain can be gleaned again from Duvaux, who in 1752 supplied Madame de Pompadour with 'Quatre pieds à contours en cuivre ciselé doré d'or moulu pour deux petits vases de porcelain brune & deux poissons céladon (Cabinet de Versailles), [42 l]'.
The enduring popularity of the model throughout the second half of the 18th century is confirmed both through Duvaux's Livre-Journal and the comparatively high proliferation of this model in 18th century sale catalogues and Inventories. Indeed, even as the ancien régime was crumbling, Louis XVI's Commander-in-Chief of the ill-fated Swiss Guards, the Baron de Besenval, was immortalised in Henri-Pierre Danloux's 1791 portrait with just such a pair of vases upon the mantelpiece. This seminal picture of aristocratic cabinets d'amateurs has recently been secured by the National Gallery in London.
A sublime reflection of the pittoresque fantasy in the full-blown Rococo style, this form of ewer was only ever intended as ornamental. Although distinctive, categoric identification of this model in 18th century sales records is nigh on impossible owing to both the brief descriptions and the fact that three closely related models were executed, all presumably by the same bronzier working for Duvaux. These three models comprise:-
VASES OF THE WILDENSTEIN MODEL, WITH THE FISHES MOUTH AS A SPOUT;
-a pair at Harewood House, Yorkshire; these also have the same ormolu plate to the underside; a pair sold from the collection of Conseulo Vanderbilt, Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1994, lot 136;
-a pair sold by Lord Robert Crichton-Stuart, Christie's London, 3 July 1959, lot 114;
-a garniture of three in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (Isabel Pereira Coutinho, Gulbenkian Museum, 1998, no.100, p.126); The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1927.165; 1927.166).
VASES WITH THE TAIL AS THE SPOUT: these include the pair from the Hastings Collection at Melton Constable, Norfolk, now in the Widener collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (discussed in Sir Francis Watson, 'Mounted Oriental Porcelain', Exhibition Catalogue, Washington, 1986, no.32).
VASES IN THE FORM OF PAIRED CARP, such as the central vase of the Gulbenkian Garniture cited above, as well as that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in J. Lunsingh Scheerler, Chinesisches und Japanisches Porzellan in europaîschen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p.336, fig. 329); as well as those offered anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 3 May 1986, lot 40.