CIRCA 1800-05, PROBABLY RUSSIAN

These ewers' are closely related to the oeuvre of Claude Galle (1759 - 1815), examples of which are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, figs. 5.12.6, 5.12.8 and 5.12.9, pp. 364 - 365. These vases and ewers all bear slender elongated figural handles, mostly in the form of winged maidens rather than the more unusual hippocampi figures employed on the present pair. The use of enamel on these ewers is also extremely rare; typically these types of vases and ewers were either made of patinated bronze and ormolu, or simply ormolu. A similar pair of ewers was offered in Christie's, New York, 20 October, 2006, lot 679.

These ewers also relate to Russian bronze examples that were strongly influenced by the work of Claude Galle. These Russian vases, attributed to Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768 - 1822), the celebrated Russian bronzier working in St. Petersburg, are illustrated in I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, pp. 96 - 97. The surface treatment of the ormolu on the offered vases would indicate that they are probably rather Russian than French. A related vase with many of the same elements attributed to Claude Galle, but possibly also by Bergenfeldt, are in the collections of the Villa Hardt, Eltville, Schloss Ludwigsburg and the Musée Massena, Nice (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, op. cit, p. 365, fig. 5.12.11).