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Lot Essay
Such extravagantly-mounted vases were popular with connoisseurs in the 18th Century and the regard in which they were held is reflected in their descriptions in contemporary sales catalogues. The 1768 sale of the collection of Monsieur L.J. Gaignat lists lot 92 as 'Deux vases d'ancienne porcelain-céladon, gauffrée craquelée montés en buire avec un dragon', and lots 102 and 103 as 'Deux grands vases de porcelain de la Chine & anses surmontés d'un dragon'. The artist Gabriel de Saint-Aubin illustrated his own copy of the catalogue with marginal drawings, clearly delineating the dragon handle.
The dragon mounts are almost identical to those on a pair of vases bought by Louis XVI at the duc d'Aumont's sale in 1782, now at the Louvre [see illustration], which also has the same pinned construction and restrained acanthus moulded foot, while virtually identical mounts are also on a pair of ewers in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that are of similarly 'squat' baluster shape as the present pair (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, vol. II, no. 242).
Pairs of ewers with these distinctive draco mounts were sold from the collection of Anna Thompson Dodge, Christie's, London, 24 June 1971, lot 12 and from the collection of Gregory de Ligne Gregory (d. 1854), Harlaxton Manor, Christie's, London, 5 July 2012, lot 11. The similarity of the mounts of all the examples cited suggests that they are possibly the production of a single fondeur-ciseleur's workshop.
The dragon mounts are almost identical to those on a pair of vases bought by Louis XVI at the duc d'Aumont's sale in 1782, now at the Louvre [see illustration], which also has the same pinned construction and restrained acanthus moulded foot, while virtually identical mounts are also on a pair of ewers in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that are of similarly 'squat' baluster shape as the present pair (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, vol. II, no. 242).
Pairs of ewers with these distinctive draco mounts were sold from the collection of Anna Thompson Dodge, Christie's, London, 24 June 1971, lot 12 and from the collection of Gregory de Ligne Gregory (d. 1854), Harlaxton Manor, Christie's, London, 5 July 2012, lot 11. The similarity of the mounts of all the examples cited suggests that they are possibly the production of a single fondeur-ciseleur's workshop.