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拍品專文
This impressive pair of vases combines the Russian love of precious hardstones and precisely chased ormolu mounts. This style was first introduced in France, the prevailing influence on Russian interiors since the 1760's when French furniture and objects arrived in St Petersburg to furnish the newly built palaces of the Empress and her Imperial court.
The fashion for ormolu-mounted hardstone objects can be traced to the duc d'Aumont, a renowned collector who was one of the four premiers gentilhommes in charge of the Menus Plaisirs for Louis XV. D'Aumont had a passion for rare stones and established a workshop in 1770 to cut and polish precious marbles and embellish them with gilt-bronze mounts, most of which were supplied by the celebrated bronzier, Pierre Gouthière.
However, the cost to import objects from France was prohibitive and by 1793 it became illegal when Russia enacted a trade embargo which remained in effect until 1820. These factors led to the growth and development of workshops in St Petersburg capable of producing distinctive, highly sophisticated objects that compare and at times surpass their French counterparts. Russia's vast natural resources yielded an enormous variety of exotic hardstones, and lapidary workshops had been in existence since 1721 when the first Imperial workshop was established at Peterhof. Additional workshops closer to the huge mines and quarries followed in 1751 at Ekaterinburg, the heart of the Ural Mountains, and in Western Siberia at Kolyvan in 1786. Decorative bronzes to mount the hardstones were supplied by the Imperial bronze factory, whose founding in 1778 was specifically to meet this demand, or by independent craftsmen. The vast majority were German emigrés skilled in casting and chasing bronzes who came to St. Petersburg to take advantage of the great need for their work. By the 1790's, these German craftsmen were producing commissions for Pavlosk as well as for the Tauride palace. As the Imperial administration had the sole right to mine for hardstones, the products of the Imperial workshops incorporating hardstones were almost exclusively created for the Imperial court or for use as diplomatic gifts.
Bloodstone, also known as Heliotrope (as the Greeks believed if immersed in water it would turn the sun red) or Blood Jasper, is a type of dark green chalcedony with distinctive small red spots. A further variant with a greater amount of red, but also from the chalcedony family, and turned blood agate, is illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture, New York, 1988, p. 262, fig. 282.
Though these vases are distinctly Russian, French designs remained enormously influential. This has at times obscured the origins of some ormolu-mounted objects which use stones that can also be found outside of Russia. Until specific designs for a pair of porphyry vases in the Picture gallery at Pavlosk were found in the Hermitage museum, it was thought these vases were French. Intriguingly, their mounts relate to the offered pair of vases as do those on another pair located in the boudoir at Pavlosk (A. Kuchumov, Pavlosk Palace and Park, Leningrad, 1975, figs 71 and 116). A further pair of vases with very closely related mounts was sold anonymously at Christie's, London, 25 November 2002, lot 129.
The fashion for ormolu-mounted hardstone objects can be traced to the duc d'Aumont, a renowned collector who was one of the four premiers gentilhommes in charge of the Menus Plaisirs for Louis XV. D'Aumont had a passion for rare stones and established a workshop in 1770 to cut and polish precious marbles and embellish them with gilt-bronze mounts, most of which were supplied by the celebrated bronzier, Pierre Gouthière.
However, the cost to import objects from France was prohibitive and by 1793 it became illegal when Russia enacted a trade embargo which remained in effect until 1820. These factors led to the growth and development of workshops in St Petersburg capable of producing distinctive, highly sophisticated objects that compare and at times surpass their French counterparts. Russia's vast natural resources yielded an enormous variety of exotic hardstones, and lapidary workshops had been in existence since 1721 when the first Imperial workshop was established at Peterhof. Additional workshops closer to the huge mines and quarries followed in 1751 at Ekaterinburg, the heart of the Ural Mountains, and in Western Siberia at Kolyvan in 1786. Decorative bronzes to mount the hardstones were supplied by the Imperial bronze factory, whose founding in 1778 was specifically to meet this demand, or by independent craftsmen. The vast majority were German emigrés skilled in casting and chasing bronzes who came to St. Petersburg to take advantage of the great need for their work. By the 1790's, these German craftsmen were producing commissions for Pavlosk as well as for the Tauride palace. As the Imperial administration had the sole right to mine for hardstones, the products of the Imperial workshops incorporating hardstones were almost exclusively created for the Imperial court or for use as diplomatic gifts.
Bloodstone, also known as Heliotrope (as the Greeks believed if immersed in water it would turn the sun red) or Blood Jasper, is a type of dark green chalcedony with distinctive small red spots. A further variant with a greater amount of red, but also from the chalcedony family, and turned blood agate, is illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture, New York, 1988, p. 262, fig. 282.
Though these vases are distinctly Russian, French designs remained enormously influential. This has at times obscured the origins of some ormolu-mounted objects which use stones that can also be found outside of Russia. Until specific designs for a pair of porphyry vases in the Picture gallery at Pavlosk were found in the Hermitage museum, it was thought these vases were French. Intriguingly, their mounts relate to the offered pair of vases as do those on another pair located in the boudoir at Pavlosk (A. Kuchumov, Pavlosk Palace and Park, Leningrad, 1975, figs 71 and 116). A further pair of vases with very closely related mounts was sold anonymously at Christie's, London, 25 November 2002, lot 129.