Pair of porcelain vases

A pair of porcelain vases with an attractive chiselled ormolu mounting, for example on the right-angled handles embellished with draperies, cascades of laurels, pine cones, …

Period: France, Transition, circa 1760

Provenance: Jacques Doucet Collection

Size:

Height               41 cm             16 in

A similar pair was also part of the Erich collection

This pair belongs to a group of seven vases with the same Chinese-style decoration on a yellow background, imitating crazed porcelain, and with the same mounting:

One pair belongs to the Nissim de Camondo Museum.

Two other pairs, made in the same porcelain but with a different mounting, are known. One has handles in the shape of snakes, and the other in the shape of rinceaux.

The identification of the porcelain is enigmatic and controversial.  It is of the hard paste variety containing quartz.  The most likely theory these vases came from a stock purchased by a marchand-mercier, who had them decorated by the same workshop and mounted in bronze during the 1760’s.  This workshop cannot be identified with certainty but the style of the naive crackles can be compared to a similar crazed decoration on a service with tray in Mennecy porcelain belonging to the Sèvres Museum. Other theories point to the manufactories of Saint-Cloud and Chantilly.