THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU MOUNTS CIRCA 1755

With its vigorous and naturalistically-modeled scrolling foliage, this pot-pourri vase reflects the Louis XV pittoresque style promoted by marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux. As his Livre-Journal testifies, Duvaux sold vases of this general form as early as 6 December 1751 to the marquise de Pompadour, as well as Deux pots pourris céladon, montés en bronze doré d'or moulu 288 livres to the comtesse de Bentleim on 15 December 1756. He is also known to have employed the bronzier Jean-Claude Duplessis to mount Chinese porcelain, such as the vase sold to the marquise de Voyer on 21 August 1753: La Monture en cuivre ciselé d'un vase du porcelaine bleu, payée à M. Duplessis. A firm attribution of the present object to a specific bronzier, however, is not at present possible, as both Thomas Germain and Jacques Caffiéri have also been suggested as possible authors of this form of mounted vase.

Related ormolu-mounted celadon porcelain pots-pourris, stamped with the C couronné poinçon but of slightly larger size, include the single vase sold by the Trustees of the Luton Hoo Foundation, Christie's, London, 9 June 1994, lot 32; a pair in the J. Paul Getty Museum (see F.J.B. Watson and G. Wilson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, no. 10, pp. 53-57); and a pair in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (see D. F. Lunsingh Scheuleer, Chinesisches und japanisches Porzellan in europaïschen Fassungen, Braunschweig, 1980, p. 323, no. 304).