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DEUXIÈME QUART DU XVIIIE SIÈCLE
细节
PAIRE DE CANDÉLABRES AUX LIONS KARASHISHI D'ÉPOQUE LOUIS XV
DEUXIÈME QUART DU XVIIIE SIÈCLE
En porcelaine du Japon Kakiémon de la fin du XVIIe siècle et porcelaine de Villeroy émaillées polychromes, ornementation de bronze ciselé et doré, à trois bras de lumière en branchages fleuris brandis par un lion protecteur Karashishi aux ornements colorés, reposant sur une base rectangulaire ajourée à décor de fleurs, appliquée aux quatre angles de feuilles d'acanthe
H. 49 cm. (19 ¼ in.) ; L. 30 cm. (11 ¾ in.) ; P. 21 cm. (8 ¼ in.)
DEUXIÈME QUART DU XVIIIE SIÈCLE
En porcelaine du Japon Kakiémon de la fin du XVIIe siècle et porcelaine de Villeroy émaillées polychromes, ornementation de bronze ciselé et doré, à trois bras de lumière en branchages fleuris brandis par un lion protecteur Karashishi aux ornements colorés, reposant sur une base rectangulaire ajourée à décor de fleurs, appliquée aux quatre angles de feuilles d'acanthe
H. 49 cm. (19 ¼ in.) ; L. 30 cm. (11 ¾ in.) ; P. 21 cm. (8 ¼ in.)
来源
Doña Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) et Son Excellence Don Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965), Hôtel Blumenthal, Paris, salon carré ;
Puis par descendance.
Puis par descendance.
出版
Bibliographie comparative :
Cat. exp. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Japanese Export Porcelain, Oxford, 2002, pl. 185.
J. Ayers, Porcelain for Palaces, London, 1990, p. 167, pl. 146.
S. Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, New York, 1965, pl. 62B.
B. Langer, Pracht und Zeremoniell, Die Möbel der Residenz München, München, 2002, p. 210.
S. Castelluccio, Le goût pour les porcelaines de Chine et du Japon à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau, 2013, p. 108.
Cat. exp. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Japanese Export Porcelain, Oxford, 2002, pl. 185.
J. Ayers, Porcelain for Palaces, London, 1990, p. 167, pl. 146.
S. Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, New York, 1965, pl. 62B.
B. Langer, Pracht und Zeremoniell, Die Möbel der Residenz München, München, 2002, p. 210.
S. Castelluccio, Le goût pour les porcelaines de Chine et du Japon à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau, 2013, p. 108.
更多详情
A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE AND VILLEROY PORCELAIN CANDELABRA, SECOND QUARTER 18TH CENTURY
Firmly poised on their four legs, with piercing eyes and mouths slightly open as if ready to roar, this pair of karashishi is delicately adorned with flowering branches. The severity of their stance is softened by the graceful sinuosity of their candle arms, while the hard-paste porcelain of Japan is complemented by the soft-paste porcelain of Villeroy: this remarkable work represents a sophisticated synthesis of traditional Asian symbolism and the decorative virtuosity of France under Louis XV.
Karashishi: Prestigious Protective Guardians
Halfway between lion and dog, the karashishi are the guardians of sacred places in Japan and are frequently found at the entrance of shrines and Buddhist temples. Derived from Chinese mythical creatures, they were believed to ward off malevolent spirits. According to tradition, the figure with the open mouth on this pair is male, while the other is female. Among the five principal creatures of the Japanese artistic tradition—including the dragon (ryu), the unicorn (kirin) and the turtle (minogame) - the Buddhist lion known as shishi appears in numerous forms, sometimes even assuming the characteristics of a tiger.
Speckled with turquoise, blue, yellow and red enamels on a white ground, these two porcelain figures embody the Japanese Kakiemon style. Originally taking its name from the family that introduced overglaze enamelling techniques at Arita during the 1640s, this style was widely exported and eagerly imitated by European manufactories throughout the eighteenth century. Created in the early eighteenth century in the Arita region, these hard-paste porcelain karashishi were transported to the port of Imari and subsequently shipped to Deshima, the artificial island at Nagasaki reserved for Dutch merchants, the only Japanese port open to Europeans during most of the Edo period. From there, they travelled aboard vessels of the Dutch East India Company to Batavia (present-day Jakarta), the Company's principal Asian trading hub, before being dispatched to Europe. Upon reaching the Dutch Republic, while Asian porcelain was distributed throughout Europe, these two karashishi eventually found their way to France, and most likely to Paris, the leading centre of decorative arts production in the eighteenth century.
Without their gilt-bronze mounts, they can be compared to several karashishi from the same period, including a pair in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, another at Drayton House in England, and examples sold at Christie’s: a figure in London on 15 September 2010, lot 517; a pair in London on 7 November 2012, lot 389; a pair in Paris on 1 December 2016, lot 296; and another pair more recently in Paris on 10 December 2025, lot 123.
The present pair, however, stands apart from all known comparables through its rarity. Unlike most examples, which are generally smaller and decorated only in yellow and blue, these figures measure nearly fifty centimetres in height and display a far richer palette, incorporating blue, yellow, green, turquoise and red. Yet what makes this pair particularly rare and desirable is its exceptional ormolu mounts.
The Union of Exoticism and the Art of Ormolu under Louis XV: the Essential Role of the Marchands-Merciers
Asian exoticism exerted a profound fascination during the reign of Louis XV, while simultaneously undergoing a process of reinterpretation. Lacquer panels were cut and incorporated into French furniture, and porcelain was frequently embellished with ormolu mounts. The marchands-merciers played a central role in this process, acting as intermediaries between porcelain dealers, bronziers, cabinet-makers and the clients who commissioned such works.
Particularly related to the present pair are two pairs of karashishi preserved in the Residenz, Munich (fig. 1), likewise mounted as three-light candelabra. While one pair is composed of turquoise Chinese porcelain, the other is made of Imari porcelain remarkably similar to the present examples (inv. K.V.C. 238). Although the splendour of the Munich pair earned it a place on the cover of John Ayers' Porcelain for Palaces (J. Ayers et al., Porcelain for Palaces, London, 1990), it remains less remarkable than the present pair, whose richer palette, pierced base and porcelain flowers greatly enhance its decorative effect.
Another comparable pair of Japanese porcelain karashishi mounted as three-light candelabra is illustrated in S. Castelluccio, Le goût pour les porcelaines de Chine et du Japon à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau, 2013, p. 108, and is today in a private collection. Although supported by a magnificent pierced gilt-bronze base, its monochrome porcelain decoration cannot rival the vibrant Imari palette of the present examples.
The taste for enamelled Asian porcelain, often referred to as "coloured porcelain", continued throughout the eighteenth century, securing an essential role for the marchands-merciers for decades. On 20 November 1777, for example, the Paris sale of Claude-François Julliot included: "Two lions, or chimeras, speckled in yellow and green, their mouths, manes and ears in a deep celestial blue colour; set upon an oblong square base with pierced interlaced panels and four ormolu ball feet; height 7 pouces 4 lignes." The same pair reappeared on 1 March 1784 in the sale of the Comte de Merle. Moreover, more than thirty years after the creation of the present candelabra, the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre commissioned a pair of enamelled Chinese lions mounted in ormolu as candlesticks by the celebrated bronzier François Rémond. One of these candlesticks was sold at Sotheby’s Paris on 28 November 2016, lot 276.
Among these comparable works of art from the Louis XVI period - and indeed among the rare eighteenth-century karashishi mounted in ormolu —the present pair is distinguished by a feature in which the marchands-merciers again played a crucial role: its delicate Villeroy porcelain flowers.
Executed in soft-paste porcelain, these flowers are among the earliest examples produced in France. Porcelain flowers were originally created in China as early as the beginning of the Ming dynasty for the embellishment of vases, and later in Japan between 1690 and 1710. The Villeroy manufactory was established between 1734 and 1737 under the patronage of the Duc de Villeroy and was among the earliest French porcelain factories, predating even Vincennes and Chantilly in reproducing such flowers and was a key instigator of this production. Predominantly white and heightened with subtle touches of colour at the tips, the petals on the present candelabra closely imitate their Japanese counterparts. Like them, they are broadly generic and do not correspond to any specific botanical species. It was through his passionate collecting of these porcelain flowers and other Japanese porcelains, as well as their Villeroy imitations, that Louis-Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, conceived the ambition of establishing a porcelain manufactory at Chantilly capable of reproducing them. His posthumous inventory records several comparable mounted Japanese porcelain lions, including “a pair of five-light gilt-bronze girandoles supported by blue and brown porcelain lions standing on their porcelain bases mounted with gilt-bronze, the whole valued together at two hundred livres.” By virtue of the exceptional rarity of its Japanese porcelain, its decoration, and its porcelain flowers, the present pair is even rarer than the example owned by the Prince de Condé.
These porcelain flowers and the Kakiemon style of the karashishi share a striking coherence: both derive from Japanese decorative forms first extensively reproduced in France by the manufactories of Villeroy, Chantilly and Saint-Cloud. This pair of candelabra therefore combines an original work of Japanese porcelain with one of its earliest Western reinterpretations. With remarkable innovation, it embodies the ability of French decorative arts to reimagine the Orient: transformed from guardians of Japanese temples, these karashishi became, through the genius of the marchands-merciers, one of the most accomplished expressions of eighteenth-century French taste.
Firmly poised on their four legs, with piercing eyes and mouths slightly open as if ready to roar, this pair of karashishi is delicately adorned with flowering branches. The severity of their stance is softened by the graceful sinuosity of their candle arms, while the hard-paste porcelain of Japan is complemented by the soft-paste porcelain of Villeroy: this remarkable work represents a sophisticated synthesis of traditional Asian symbolism and the decorative virtuosity of France under Louis XV.
Karashishi: Prestigious Protective Guardians
Halfway between lion and dog, the karashishi are the guardians of sacred places in Japan and are frequently found at the entrance of shrines and Buddhist temples. Derived from Chinese mythical creatures, they were believed to ward off malevolent spirits. According to tradition, the figure with the open mouth on this pair is male, while the other is female. Among the five principal creatures of the Japanese artistic tradition—including the dragon (ryu), the unicorn (kirin) and the turtle (minogame) - the Buddhist lion known as shishi appears in numerous forms, sometimes even assuming the characteristics of a tiger.
Speckled with turquoise, blue, yellow and red enamels on a white ground, these two porcelain figures embody the Japanese Kakiemon style. Originally taking its name from the family that introduced overglaze enamelling techniques at Arita during the 1640s, this style was widely exported and eagerly imitated by European manufactories throughout the eighteenth century. Created in the early eighteenth century in the Arita region, these hard-paste porcelain karashishi were transported to the port of Imari and subsequently shipped to Deshima, the artificial island at Nagasaki reserved for Dutch merchants, the only Japanese port open to Europeans during most of the Edo period. From there, they travelled aboard vessels of the Dutch East India Company to Batavia (present-day Jakarta), the Company's principal Asian trading hub, before being dispatched to Europe. Upon reaching the Dutch Republic, while Asian porcelain was distributed throughout Europe, these two karashishi eventually found their way to France, and most likely to Paris, the leading centre of decorative arts production in the eighteenth century.
Without their gilt-bronze mounts, they can be compared to several karashishi from the same period, including a pair in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, another at Drayton House in England, and examples sold at Christie’s: a figure in London on 15 September 2010, lot 517; a pair in London on 7 November 2012, lot 389; a pair in Paris on 1 December 2016, lot 296; and another pair more recently in Paris on 10 December 2025, lot 123.
The present pair, however, stands apart from all known comparables through its rarity. Unlike most examples, which are generally smaller and decorated only in yellow and blue, these figures measure nearly fifty centimetres in height and display a far richer palette, incorporating blue, yellow, green, turquoise and red. Yet what makes this pair particularly rare and desirable is its exceptional ormolu mounts.
The Union of Exoticism and the Art of Ormolu under Louis XV: the Essential Role of the Marchands-Merciers
Asian exoticism exerted a profound fascination during the reign of Louis XV, while simultaneously undergoing a process of reinterpretation. Lacquer panels were cut and incorporated into French furniture, and porcelain was frequently embellished with ormolu mounts. The marchands-merciers played a central role in this process, acting as intermediaries between porcelain dealers, bronziers, cabinet-makers and the clients who commissioned such works.
Particularly related to the present pair are two pairs of karashishi preserved in the Residenz, Munich (fig. 1), likewise mounted as three-light candelabra. While one pair is composed of turquoise Chinese porcelain, the other is made of Imari porcelain remarkably similar to the present examples (inv. K.V.C. 238). Although the splendour of the Munich pair earned it a place on the cover of John Ayers' Porcelain for Palaces (J. Ayers et al., Porcelain for Palaces, London, 1990), it remains less remarkable than the present pair, whose richer palette, pierced base and porcelain flowers greatly enhance its decorative effect.
Another comparable pair of Japanese porcelain karashishi mounted as three-light candelabra is illustrated in S. Castelluccio, Le goût pour les porcelaines de Chine et du Japon à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau, 2013, p. 108, and is today in a private collection. Although supported by a magnificent pierced gilt-bronze base, its monochrome porcelain decoration cannot rival the vibrant Imari palette of the present examples.
The taste for enamelled Asian porcelain, often referred to as "coloured porcelain", continued throughout the eighteenth century, securing an essential role for the marchands-merciers for decades. On 20 November 1777, for example, the Paris sale of Claude-François Julliot included: "Two lions, or chimeras, speckled in yellow and green, their mouths, manes and ears in a deep celestial blue colour; set upon an oblong square base with pierced interlaced panels and four ormolu ball feet; height 7 pouces 4 lignes." The same pair reappeared on 1 March 1784 in the sale of the Comte de Merle. Moreover, more than thirty years after the creation of the present candelabra, the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre commissioned a pair of enamelled Chinese lions mounted in ormolu as candlesticks by the celebrated bronzier François Rémond. One of these candlesticks was sold at Sotheby’s Paris on 28 November 2016, lot 276.
Among these comparable works of art from the Louis XVI period - and indeed among the rare eighteenth-century karashishi mounted in ormolu —the present pair is distinguished by a feature in which the marchands-merciers again played a crucial role: its delicate Villeroy porcelain flowers.
Executed in soft-paste porcelain, these flowers are among the earliest examples produced in France. Porcelain flowers were originally created in China as early as the beginning of the Ming dynasty for the embellishment of vases, and later in Japan between 1690 and 1710. The Villeroy manufactory was established between 1734 and 1737 under the patronage of the Duc de Villeroy and was among the earliest French porcelain factories, predating even Vincennes and Chantilly in reproducing such flowers and was a key instigator of this production. Predominantly white and heightened with subtle touches of colour at the tips, the petals on the present candelabra closely imitate their Japanese counterparts. Like them, they are broadly generic and do not correspond to any specific botanical species. It was through his passionate collecting of these porcelain flowers and other Japanese porcelains, as well as their Villeroy imitations, that Louis-Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, conceived the ambition of establishing a porcelain manufactory at Chantilly capable of reproducing them. His posthumous inventory records several comparable mounted Japanese porcelain lions, including “a pair of five-light gilt-bronze girandoles supported by blue and brown porcelain lions standing on their porcelain bases mounted with gilt-bronze, the whole valued together at two hundred livres.” By virtue of the exceptional rarity of its Japanese porcelain, its decoration, and its porcelain flowers, the present pair is even rarer than the example owned by the Prince de Condé.
These porcelain flowers and the Kakiemon style of the karashishi share a striking coherence: both derive from Japanese decorative forms first extensively reproduced in France by the manufactories of Villeroy, Chantilly and Saint-Cloud. This pair of candelabra therefore combines an original work of Japanese porcelain with one of its earliest Western reinterpretations. With remarkable innovation, it embodies the ability of French decorative arts to reimagine the Orient: transformed from guardians of Japanese temples, these karashishi became, through the genius of the marchands-merciers, one of the most accomplished expressions of eighteenth-century French taste.
荣誉呈献
Paul Gallois
Head of European Furniture, EMEA