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Lot Essay
With its exquisite crystal and finely chased bronze mounts, this magnificent vase is a fine manifestation of the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat’s production in the early 20th century. Founded by royal decree of Louis XV in 1764, Baccarat has long been renowned for the fine quality of its crystal, a material distinguished from glass by its density, durability and its highly reflective qualities. The celebrated firm showed many of its most important works – including another example of the Vase les Trois Grâces – in the major international exhibitions of the 19th and early 20th centuries, to great acclaim. Baccarat's luxurious objets d’art became synonymous with 'l’art de vivre à la française’ and were avidly acquired throughout France and by the visiting international elite (Lerch, op. cit., p. 19).
An example of the Vase les Trois Grâces was shown in the Exposition international de l’Est de la France in Nancy in 1909, where it is visible in the centre of Baccarat’s stand. It was then shown at the Exposition de la verrerie et de la cristallerie artistiques at the Palais Galliera in Paris in 1910, and is today in Baccarat’s collections patrimoniale, from whence it was lent to the 2014-2015 exhibition Baccarat – La Légende du Crystal at the Grand Palais in Paris (Lerch, op. cit., p. 86). Together with the present lot, it is one of the few documented examples of the model. The vase is based on a design by François-Hippolyte Moreau (1832-1927) of the celebrated French dynasty of artists, who, in turn, was likely influenced by an 18th century clock of similar form, `Pendule: Les Trois Grâces’ (circa 1770) attributed to Etienne Maurice Falconet, and today in the Louvre (OA 6525). Moreau’s model at once combines classical influence – the Three Graces personifying various favourable virtues from Antiquity forward – with a distinctly modern form. As such, this work is a fine artistic collaboration between sculptor and cristallerie; a tour de force of Baccarat’s celebrated production.
An example of the Vase les Trois Grâces was shown in the Exposition international de l’Est de la France in Nancy in 1909, where it is visible in the centre of Baccarat’s stand. It was then shown at the Exposition de la verrerie et de la cristallerie artistiques at the Palais Galliera in Paris in 1910, and is today in Baccarat’s collections patrimoniale, from whence it was lent to the 2014-2015 exhibition Baccarat – La Légende du Crystal at the Grand Palais in Paris (Lerch, op. cit., p. 86). Together with the present lot, it is one of the few documented examples of the model. The vase is based on a design by François-Hippolyte Moreau (1832-1927) of the celebrated French dynasty of artists, who, in turn, was likely influenced by an 18th century clock of similar form, `Pendule: Les Trois Grâces’ (circa 1770) attributed to Etienne Maurice Falconet, and today in the Louvre (OA 6525). Moreau’s model at once combines classical influence – the Three Graces personifying various favourable virtues from Antiquity forward – with a distinctly modern form. As such, this work is a fine artistic collaboration between sculptor and cristallerie; a tour de force of Baccarat’s celebrated production.