FIRST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, THE ORMOLU MOUNTS ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE-PHILIPPE THOMIRE

The magnificent vases forming these candelabra are carved from urazov jasper, a rare and highly prized hardstone quarried in the Ural Mountains and especially favoured by the Russian Imperial family and aristocracy. Given the Imperial restrictions imposed on the importation of French bronzes in the early nineteenth century, the presence of such distinguished Parisian mounts strongly suggests that these sumptuous works were commissioned for a family of exceptional standing at the Russian court, or alternatively that the vases were sent abroad before being mounted in Paris.

The present pair belongs to a distinguished group of monumental hardstone vases, many of which were produced for the Russian Imperial collections. Executed in superb jasper from the Imperial quarries, they would have been produced at one of the centres of Russian lapidary production at Ekaterinburg, Kolyvan and Peterhof. Their finely chased and gilt-bronze mounts are attributed to the celebrated Parisian bronzier Pierre-Philippe Thomire, one of the foremost craftsmen of the Empire period and epitomise the popularity of the French Empire style in Russia and its adaptation to make effective use of Russian natural materials.

With an effective ban on the import of French bronzes into Russia from 1793-1820, with the exception of some brief imperial relaxations of the rules, the acquisition of French gilt-bronzes became considerably more complicated and attention turned to domestic Russian and émigré bronziers . The presence of mounts of such exceptional Parisian quality on the present vases therefore suggests a commission of the highest rank, likely intended for an Imperial or aristocratic patron with privileged access to both the Russian hardstone manufactories and the foremost bronziers of Paris.

Related hardstone vases are preserved at Pavlovsk, acquired by Grand Duke Paul and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna during the 1780s and subsequently supplemented by purchases made by the Dowager Empress following the refurbishment of the palace after the fire of 1803. Among these is an unmounted pair of vases in translucent urazov jasper, with similar figuring to the present vases and now in the Greek Hall, originally designed by Vincenzo Brenna in 1789 and remodelled by Andrei Voronikhin after the fire of 1803–04 (E. Ducamp, Pavlovsk: The Collections, Paris, 1993, p. 204, fig. 7; A. Koutchoumov, Pavlovsk, Leningrad, 1976, fig. 28). While Ducamp attributes these vases to the Ekaterinburg workshops, Koutchoumov ascribes them to Kolyvan. Further comparable examples are in the Picture Gallery at Pavlovsk: a pair of richly mounted vases in red Korgon porphyry with ram's-mask handles and vine ornament, attributed to Kolyvan on the basis of Hermitage designs inscribed, “Two vases in Korgon porphyry were sent to St. Petersburg on 5 June 1789” (Ducamp, op. cit., pp. 199, 205, fig. 11). A further pair of urazov jasper vases, with high quality ormolu mounts, and formerly in the Russian imperial collection was sold Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Monaco, 30 November 1996, lot 934, while a further pair of vases with ormolu mounts and also with imperial provenance was sold Property of a German Royal Family; Christie's, London, 6 July 2006, lot 10.
The close correspondence between these Imperial commissions and the present pair underscores both the exceptional quality of their lapidary workmanship and their likely association with the highest levels of patronage in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Russia.