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Lot Essay
These spectacular pots pourris vases, with elegant female caryatids supporting richly veined vessels of alabastro fiorito surmounted by luxuriant fruiting finials, reflect the extent to which St. Petersburg bronziers had absorbed the fashion for the goût étrusque from their confrères in Paris in the 1780's.
The overall design, with its distinctive interpretation of neo-classical forms, recalls the work of the influential architect-designer Andrei Voronikhin (1759 - 1814). Recognized as a talented draughtsman at a young age, Voronikhin was also thought to be Count Stroganov's illegitimate son. He studied in Moscow and later in Paris, returning to St. Petersburg in 1790 when he immediately was commissioned to work on the decor of Stroganov Palace. Further projects followed for the Galitzin family, and, most importantly, on the Imperial Palaces of Peterhof and Pavlovsk. As well as devising architectural schemes for these projects, he produced a large amount of designs for furniture and objets d'art and more than anyone came to embody the distinctive Russian interpretation of the neo-classical and Empire styles of Paris. He often worked in collaboration with the German-cabinet-maker Heinrich Gambs, and, more significantly with respect to these perfume burners, provided many designs for the objets d'art produced by the Imperial stonecutting workshops of Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan.
The slender caryatid supports terminating in hoof feet are a particular leitmotif of Voronikhin's designs, featuring for instance as the supports to two superb hardstone coupes executed in the Ekaterinburg stonecutting workshops after designs by him, one in grey-green jasper and one in malachite, the latter originally supplied for the Picture Gallery at Stroganov Palace, and both now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (see E.M. Efimova, Russian Stoneware in the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 1961, fig. 31, and A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 1780 - 1840, New York, 1988, p. 271, fig. 297). A further table at Pavlovsk Palace, executed by Gambs after designs by Voronikhin, and featuring hoof-footed caryatids, is illustrated Chenevière ibid., p. 174, fig. 174.
Voronikhin was no doubt in turn influenced by Parisian ornemanistes of the 1780's such as Jean-François Forty, whose Oeuvres included designs for various bronzes d'ameublement featuring similar slender caryatic figures and lush fruiting garlands.
A further pair of pots pourris vases of this model, but with bodies of white marble, is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Objets Montés du Moyen Age à nos jours, Paris, 2000, p. 160.
The overall design, with its distinctive interpretation of neo-classical forms, recalls the work of the influential architect-designer Andrei Voronikhin (1759 - 1814). Recognized as a talented draughtsman at a young age, Voronikhin was also thought to be Count Stroganov's illegitimate son. He studied in Moscow and later in Paris, returning to St. Petersburg in 1790 when he immediately was commissioned to work on the decor of Stroganov Palace. Further projects followed for the Galitzin family, and, most importantly, on the Imperial Palaces of Peterhof and Pavlovsk. As well as devising architectural schemes for these projects, he produced a large amount of designs for furniture and objets d'art and more than anyone came to embody the distinctive Russian interpretation of the neo-classical and Empire styles of Paris. He often worked in collaboration with the German-cabinet-maker Heinrich Gambs, and, more significantly with respect to these perfume burners, provided many designs for the objets d'art produced by the Imperial stonecutting workshops of Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan.
The slender caryatid supports terminating in hoof feet are a particular leitmotif of Voronikhin's designs, featuring for instance as the supports to two superb hardstone coupes executed in the Ekaterinburg stonecutting workshops after designs by him, one in grey-green jasper and one in malachite, the latter originally supplied for the Picture Gallery at Stroganov Palace, and both now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (see E.M. Efimova, Russian Stoneware in the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 1961, fig. 31, and A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 1780 - 1840, New York, 1988, p. 271, fig. 297). A further table at Pavlovsk Palace, executed by Gambs after designs by Voronikhin, and featuring hoof-footed caryatids, is illustrated Chenevière ibid., p. 174, fig. 174.
Voronikhin was no doubt in turn influenced by Parisian ornemanistes of the 1780's such as Jean-François Forty, whose Oeuvres included designs for various bronzes d'ameublement featuring similar slender caryatic figures and lush fruiting garlands.
A further pair of pots pourris vases of this model, but with bodies of white marble, is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Objets Montés du Moyen Age à nos jours, Paris, 2000, p. 160.