.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The model, also known as vase 'à couronne', was produced in two sizes and was first listed in the biscuit records in 1763. The model and moulds were each valued at 40 livres for the 1st size and 30 livres for the 2nd size. The present examples have a collar of 'pearls' of the same size between the stem and base of the vases although the plaster model has a collar of alternating small and larger 'pearls'.
The same military scenes painted by Jean-Louis Morin also appear on a pair of vases ferré, dated 1764, in the Royal Collection, see Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in The Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2009, Vol. I, pp. 179-183, no. 27, where he notes that these scenes were painted when Morin was at the height of his powers and have a convincing look, perhaps because Morin’s father was an army surgeon so that the young Morin could have had first hand knowledge of camp life. The scenes were reproduced on other pairs of vases, some of which are signed by Morin, and those which can be dated bear the date-letters for 1765 and 1766. Some of the colours of the uniforms appear to be authentic; the soldiers in the foreground talking to the servant girl offering them a fowl appear to be from the Régiment d’Infanterie de Hainaut. The two vases in the Royal Collection were originally from a garniture of three, the central vase à bâtons rompus, also in the Royal Collection, is painted with another encampment scene by Morin, (ibid., pp. 219-221, no. 40). It has been suggested that the present vases also formed part of a garniture of three in the 18th century. The same scene as that on the Royal Collection vase à bâtons rompus appears on an unmarked vase à ruban or à couronne of the first size, which was probably the central vase of the present pair and was sold at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 3 December 1935, lot 36 (ibid., p/ 183, note 9). Further similar scenes were on a pair of vases à panneaux, dated 1766, in the Wallace Collection, see Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. I, pp. 320-321, C297-8, although these scenes have less detail in the foreground.
The same military scenes painted by Jean-Louis Morin also appear on a pair of vases ferré, dated 1764, in the Royal Collection, see Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in The Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2009, Vol. I, pp. 179-183, no. 27, where he notes that these scenes were painted when Morin was at the height of his powers and have a convincing look, perhaps because Morin’s father was an army surgeon so that the young Morin could have had first hand knowledge of camp life. The scenes were reproduced on other pairs of vases, some of which are signed by Morin, and those which can be dated bear the date-letters for 1765 and 1766. Some of the colours of the uniforms appear to be authentic; the soldiers in the foreground talking to the servant girl offering them a fowl appear to be from the Régiment d’Infanterie de Hainaut. The two vases in the Royal Collection were originally from a garniture of three, the central vase à bâtons rompus, also in the Royal Collection, is painted with another encampment scene by Morin, (ibid., pp. 219-221, no. 40). It has been suggested that the present vases also formed part of a garniture of three in the 18th century. The same scene as that on the Royal Collection vase à bâtons rompus appears on an unmarked vase à ruban or à couronne of the first size, which was probably the central vase of the present pair and was sold at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 3 December 1935, lot 36 (ibid., p/ 183, note 9). Further similar scenes were on a pair of vases à panneaux, dated 1766, in the Wallace Collection, see Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, Vol. I, pp. 320-321, C297-8, although these scenes have less detail in the foreground.