.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
These vases' characteristic slender elongated shape, with a winged figural handle accentuating a deeply scrolled spout, is typical of the oeuvre of Claude Galle (1759-1815). This lot is related to Galle's 'maiden' vases and his popular series of ewers, examples of which remain at Pavlovsk in St. Petersburg, and which are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, figs. 5.12.6 and 5.12.9, pp. 364-365 and A. de Gourcuff, ed., Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121. Such ewers and vases were produced by Galle’s workshop predominantly in ormolu or patinated bronze. Marble was also used occasionally, but the most luxurious examples were clad in enamel, such as the present pair.
Embellishing the enameled bodies with gilt decoration and fitting them with ormolu relief-cast collars places these ewers further among the more lavish variants of the model. The use of stamped silver and gilt-foil decoration, or paillons, on enameled objects in France dates to the 1720s, and though it was most famously employed by the St-Cloud porcelain manufactory, had become by the 1780s widely used on metal as well, with the famous enameller Jospeh Coteau (1740-1801) being one of its proponents (see W. Haydn, Enamels of the World, London, 2009, p. 247). The design of such vases seems to have found particular favor among Russian and English collectors, and related examples with winged maiden handles include those at the Württemberg Landesmuseum in Stuttgart, at Pavlovsk, and at Ostankino in Moscow; a further pair was sold from the Ojjeh Collection, Christie's, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 153. Only two pairs of near-identical enameled ewers, also with hippocampus-cast handles and friezes depicting maidens and leopards, have appeared on the international art market in the past decades; see one sold from the Altmeyer Collection, Christie’s, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 214 and another pair offered Christie's, New York, 20 October 2006, lot 679.
Claude Galle’s humble origins did not predict his prestigious future as one of the most prolific and successful bronziers in France. He is known to have collaborated with, amongst others, Pierre-Philippe Thomire, and successfully delivered ormolu bronzes d’ameublement for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne between 1785-1788, notably for the châteaux of Versailles and Saint-Cloud. After the Revolution, Galle supplied bronzes for the Imperial Court under Napoleon, in particular for the châteaux de Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau and Compiègne. Galle enjoyed great popularity among members of the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, where his works were acquired in great number by them, which accounts for the important numbers of his pieces remaining in the many state palace museums of St. Petersburg today.
Embellishing the enameled bodies with gilt decoration and fitting them with ormolu relief-cast collars places these ewers further among the more lavish variants of the model. The use of stamped silver and gilt-foil decoration, or paillons, on enameled objects in France dates to the 1720s, and though it was most famously employed by the St-Cloud porcelain manufactory, had become by the 1780s widely used on metal as well, with the famous enameller Jospeh Coteau (1740-1801) being one of its proponents (see W. Haydn, Enamels of the World, London, 2009, p. 247). The design of such vases seems to have found particular favor among Russian and English collectors, and related examples with winged maiden handles include those at the Württemberg Landesmuseum in Stuttgart, at Pavlovsk, and at Ostankino in Moscow; a further pair was sold from the Ojjeh Collection, Christie's, Monaco, 11-12 December 1999, lot 153. Only two pairs of near-identical enameled ewers, also with hippocampus-cast handles and friezes depicting maidens and leopards, have appeared on the international art market in the past decades; see one sold from the Altmeyer Collection, Christie’s, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 214 and another pair offered Christie's, New York, 20 October 2006, lot 679.
Claude Galle’s humble origins did not predict his prestigious future as one of the most prolific and successful bronziers in France. He is known to have collaborated with, amongst others, Pierre-Philippe Thomire, and successfully delivered ormolu bronzes d’ameublement for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne between 1785-1788, notably for the châteaux of Versailles and Saint-Cloud. After the Revolution, Galle supplied bronzes for the Imperial Court under Napoleon, in particular for the châteaux de Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau and Compiègne. Galle enjoyed great popularity among members of the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, where his works were acquired in great number by them, which accounts for the important numbers of his pieces remaining in the many state palace museums of St. Petersburg today.