Les vases "oeuf" en porcelaine de Sèvres du XVIIIe siècle

Nous évoquions récemment cette garniture dans notre sujet : Le château de Saint-Cloud

Garniture de trois vases "chinois" vendue à la Reine Marie-Antoinette entre 1774 et 1776, envoyée à Saint-Cloud après 1785, probablement vers 1788.


Photo : Collection château de Versailles et Trianon

La porcelaine à décor de chinoiseries sur fond blanc est bien de la manufacture de Sèvres, les montures en bronze doré sont attribués à Duplessis.

Vase latéral d'une garniture de trois vases "chinois"
Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres, 1774-76
Louis-François Lécot ou l'Ecot (peintre sur porcelaine)
Monture attribuée à Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis
Porcelaine dure, bronze ciselé et doré
Garniture vendue à la Reine Marie-Antoinette entre 1774 et 1776 ; envoyés à Saint-Cloud après 1785 ; aliénés à la Révolution (...)
Image : RMN-GP (Château de Versailles)


Vase du milieu
Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres, 1774-76
Louis-François Lécot ou l'Ecot (peintre sur porcelaine)
Monture attribuée à Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis
Porcelaine dure, bronze ciselé et doré
Image : RMN-GP (Château de Versailles)


Vase latéral
Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres, 1774-76
Louis-François Lécot ou l'Ecot (peintre sur porcelaine)
Monture attribuée à Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis
Porcelaine dure, bronze ciselé et doré
Image : RMN-GP (Château de Versailles)

Nous retrouvons notamment, illustrée sur le vase du milieu, une déclinaison d'une scène tirée du frontispice de la Suite des figures chinoises, d'après François Boucher :


Frontispice de la Suite de Figures Chinoises. . .Tiré du Cabinet de Mr. d'Azaincourt
Gravé par Jean Pierre Louis Laurent Hoüel, d'après François Boucher
A Paris chez Demarteau l'Ainé, "Avec Privelege du Roy", 1755-76
Image : The Metropolitan Museum of Art



Images : Château de Versailles




Ces modèles de vases "oeuf", réalisés à Sèvres vers la fin des années 1770 seront commandés par d'autres membres de la famille royale : le comte de Provence (qui acquiert en 1775 le même type de garniture), Louis XVI, ou encore Mesdames Adélaïde et Victoire...

Récemment, le château de Versailles s'est porté acquéreur de deux des vases composant une garniture de 3 pièces, offerte par Louis XVI à sa soeur Madame Elisabeth.
Je cite un extrait d'un article publié sur le site internet La Tribune de l'Art, qui présente cette acquisition :

(...) Le legs de madame Jeanne Heymann a également permis aux équipes du château de Versailles d’acquérir auprès d’une collection anglaise deux superbes vases « œuf » en deuxième grandeur à fond rose lilas et à décor chinois, offerts par le roi Louis XVI à sa sœur, Madame Élisabeth, au tout début de l’année 1780.


Deux vases "œuf" en deuxième grandeur à fond lilas et à décor chinois, 1779
Jean-Jacques Dieu (actif entre 1776 et 1805) et Jean-Claude Duplessis fils ? (1730 - 1783)
Porcelaine dure de Sèvres - 35 cm
Versailles, Musée national du château
Photo : RMN-GP/C. Fouin

Ils appartenaient initialement à une précieuse garniture de trois vases, dont toutes les étapes de la fabrication à la livraison sont connues précisément grâce aux archives de la manufacture royale de porcelaine de Sèvres. Exécutée en 1779, cette garniture fut acquise par le souverain lors des célèbres ventes qui se tenaient à Versailles au début de l’année, pour la somme très importante de 3600 livres.
Ce prix conséquent s’explique par la rareté insigne de ces pièces, dont la virtuosité nous éblouit encore : la couleur de fond dite « rose lilas » est extrêmement rare et ne se retrouve que sur la pâte dure de Sèvres, pour des raisons techniques. Les archives ne mentionnent aucune autre garniture de vases œuf à fond rose lilas, dont les prises en forme d’ananas et les clochettes qui garnissent les anses – disparues sur les deux vases latéraux – accentuent le côté exotique.

Transportée au palais des Tuileries après 1789, cette garniture fut divisée en deux lots : les deux vases latéraux tout juste revenus à Versailles furent répertoriés au Royaume-Uni dès le début du XIXe siècle tandis que le vase central - en première grandeur - fit partie des collections de la famille princière russe Youssoupoff et se trouve conservé au musée de l’Ermitage de Saint-Pétersbourg depuis 1925.

Ovoid Vase in a Mount
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Jean-Jacques Dieu, active 1777-1810 (painter)
Sèvres, hard-paste porcelain, 1780
h. 47; diam. 19 cm

A l’été 2014, l’exposition « La Chine à Versailles : art et diplomatie au XVIIIe siècle » fut l’occasion de réunir exceptionnellement la garniture dispersée par les aléas de l’Histoire : espérons que cela puisse un jour être à nouveau le cas.
(...)

La garniture reconstituée telle qu’elle était présentée lors de l’exposition "La Chine à Versailles" en 2014
Photo : EPV/D. Saulnier

* Source texte et images : La Tribune de l'Art - Un legs providentiel permet des acquisitions majeures pour Versailles (Alexandre Lafore)


Nous présentions cette exposition passée, ici : Exposition - La Chine à Versailles (2014)
Mon cher Gouv', si tu as d'autres images parmi les milliers de ta collection, je suis preneur...



En 2000, Christie's New York proposait à la vente cette autre garniture, décrite ainsi à l'époque.
Je cite l'intéressante note au catalogue   :


A Louis XVI Ormolu-mounted Hard Paste Sèvres Porcelain Pot-Pourri Garniture
The central vase with Sèvres interlaced L's and dated 1775 and 1776, with the painter's mark of Lécot, the mounts attributed to Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan-Duplessis
Comprising a large central vase and a pair of smaller vases en suite, each with oviform body decorated with chinoiserie scenes, the larger vase decorated on the lid with boys playing badminton in a rocky landscape with shrubs on one side and playing with balancing poles on the other, the vase painted on one side with men kow-towing to a monkey deity and, on the other, with a potentate seated below a dais with a fisherman, the pair similarly painted, one with lid decorated with figures playing cards and chasing butterflies and vase painted with figures making offerings before a shrine with a pendulum with a green monkey, the other with lid decorated with musicians and a figure with a blow-pipe, the vase with jugglers and with musicians before a lady in a cabin, each vase with foliate-cast finial and pierced guilloche collar, the larger vase with looped husk-cast handles, the pair with bolts, on spreading socles decorated with stiff-leaves and shrubs with oeil-de-perdrix border, on a square base decorated with foliage to the corners and pounced borders, the pair of vases with partially obliterated interlaced L's below a crown in gilt, with labels inscribed in ink 37148B and one in red paint 7148B; the larger vase with black interlaced L's enclosing the date letter Y for 1776 below a crown and LL/1775 and inscribed in red paint 37148A, now lacking chains
The larger vase; 19in. (48cm.) high, 9¾in. (25cm.) wide;
The pair of vases, 14½in. (37cm.) high, 6½in. (16.5cm.) wide

Provenance : Either the garniture purchased by Queen Marie-Antoinette between 1774 and 1776, or the garniture sold to General Smith in 1778.
By tradition, Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), uncle of Napoleon I (...)


Catalogue Note :

The sales registers of the Sèvres Manufactory records the sale of three identical garnitures.

The first was bought by Monsieur, the comte de Provence on 24 December 1775 at the traditional exhibition/sale which was held at Versailles in the King's dining-room. The garniture is succintly described in the register: une garniture de vases chinois...3000 livres.
An inventory carried out of the comte de Provence's appartements at the Petit-Luxembourg, when his appartements were stripped of their furniture in 1794, describes this garniture succinctly:

The second garniture is described in the same way as the first: une garniture de trois vases chinois...3,000 livres and was bought by Queen Marie-Antoinette between 1774 and 1776.
This garniture was displayed in the private appartements of the Queen at Versailles and was subsequently sent to Saint-Cloud after 1785.
The last inventory of the Queen's appartements carried out in 1794, describes the garniture precisely: une garniture de trois vases de porcelaine de Sèvres, fond blanc à dessins chinois, à gorges à jour, cordes, glands et anses en cuivre doré prisée 700 livres.
It was sold shortly afterwards.

The third was purchased by General Smith on 11 March 1778. In his Mémoires Secrets, Bachaumont mentions General Smith on the 7 December 1777 :

On parle beaucoup d'un certain Smith, Anglais, venu ici pendant le voyage de Fontainebleau avec 200 000 louis à perdre au jeu. Cela a amorcé la cupidté des joueurs de la Cour, et quoiqu'il soit d'une extraction vile, on a fait valoir sa qualité de colonel qu'il a eue dans l'Inde pour le présenter à la Reine et à la famille royale. Il a été en conséquence admis au jeu de sa Majesté, est devenu familier chez nos princes, qu'il ruine, ainsi que beaucoup de seigneurs.
On prétend qu'il a gagné déjà 1 500 000 livres. Il est d'un insolence que donne aisément la prospérité.   On l'a vu l'autre jour à table avec M. le comte d'Artois et le duc de Chartres, les coudes sur la table et de la manière la plus libre.

Smith profited considerably from his stay in Paris enabling him to buy from the best dealers. On 11 March 1778, in addition to the garniture he purchased a dinner service decorated with roses and myrtle at the Sèvres Manufactory.

All three garnitures are known today :

One, dated 1775, is now in a private collection and was exhibited in 1995 at the Jerusalem Museum ('Princely Taste, Treasures from Great Private Collections', The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Exhibition Catalogue, 1995, p.133).
The second is offered here. Its central vase is marked with the letter 'Y' for 1776, like the vase in the following garniture, but is also dated 1775 which suggests that it was made some months or some weeks before the central vase of the following garniture.
The third was purchased by the Musée National du château de Versailles in 1983 (Inv. V5225-1-3; the principal vase illustrated in A. Gruber, et al., The History of the Decorative Arts: Classicism and the Baroque in Europe, 1996, p. 320) and is now exhibited in the grand cabinet intérieur de la reine. Its central vase bears the date letter 'Y' for 1776 and the flanking vases the letter 'X' for 1775, as well as LECOT, the exceptional signature of the painter Louis-François Lécot (Christian Baulez, 'Versailles vers un retour des Sèvres', Revue du Louvre (December 1991), pp.72-73, fig.14).

We can deduce from the above that the garniture exhibited at the Jerusalem Museum in 1995 is certainly that of the comte de Provence. It is dated 1775, whilst the central vases of the two others are dated 1776. On the face of it, it would seem impossible to differentiate between this garniture and the garniture now at Versailles. In that the central vase of this garniture is dated both for 1775 and 1776, this would suggest that this garniture was probably made a few weeks before the garniture now at Versailles, and this in turn would tend to suggest that the offered garniture, being the first of the two made, was the one purchased by the Queen.

THE MODEL OF VASE OEUF

Vases oeuf or en forme d'oeuf are mentioned for the first time in the list of new models in the 1 January 1766 inventory (the first size), the second size being listed in the 1767 inventory.
The plaster model with cover for this vase oeuf à monter is in the Sèvres archives, inventoried in 1814.
The vase is listed in two sizes, the model corresponding with the first size at 47cm. high and 22.5cm. diameter.

THE ORIGIN OF THE FORM

Symbolic of life, the egg has always fascinated artists. In the 18th century, the egg represented the world in a more general fashion.
The Sèvres Manufactory offered a choice of models described as oeuf, vase oeuf, or en forme d'oeuf, oeuf monté, or garniture de vases oeuf.

These models were produced in both different sizes and levels of quality in the decoration, as is suggested by the large variation in price between 7 livres, 10 and 1344 livres each.
Other elaborately decorated vases were bought by private individuals ranging between 480 and 1344 livres. They were fitted out with ormolu mounts in the most fashionable taste by the bronziers attached to the Sèvres Manufactory.
The sales registers list four garnitures de vases oeuf, three of which comprise three vases, and one five vases, targeting the Manufactory's most sophisticated clients.

Various different vase models were created from the basic egg form, such as the vase oeuf à couronne et effigie royale, vase oeuf Louis XVI garni, vase oeuf à plaques, vase à oeuf gaudronné ou cannelé, vases oeuf cygnes...600/1200, vase oeuf guirlandes...360 livres.

THE ICONOGRAPHIC SOURCES FOR THE CHINESE SCENES

Lécot used the same compositional scheme on each vase, with two large scenes on the main body and two on the lid, imitating Japanese decoration. Each garniture thus presented twelve scenes which were inspired by the oeuvre of Jean Pillement (1728-1808).

LÉCOT

Lécot (circa 1741-before 1803) started at the Sèvres Manufactory as an apprentice in October 1761. He did not start definitively until October 1772 as a painter, and from May 1773 he worked as a gilder on hard-paste porcelain. From 1773 onwards, he specialized in chinoisiere decoration, very much in fashion throughout the 1770's. He decorated several expensive items for the Royal family including:

- probably, in 1775, two déjeuners chinois...720/1 440 livres intended for Louis XVI.
- in December 1775 a déjeuners chinois...600 livres intended for Madame Victoire, daughter of Louis XV.
- and, on 27 January 1776, un cabaret chinois...600 livres intended for Madame Adélaïde, Madame Victoire's sister.

The Château de Versailles has acquired a number of pieces which are marked L for the painter Denis Levé, although their decoration is attributed to Lécot rather than Levé. The kiln registers mention 10 cups (gobelets).

In 1776, Lécot was paid 168 livres to decorate une garniture de vase, one of the three garnitures of vases oeuf discussed above made at virtually the same time in 1775 and completed at the end of 1775 for one and in 1776 for the two others.

DUPLESSIS AND THE ORMOLU MOUNTS

Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan-Duplessis (d.1773), was the son of the sculptor, bronzier and artistic director of the Vincennes-Sèvres Manufactory. From 1752, he assisted his father in creating models. On 12 June 1765 he became maître fondeur en terre et sable, having, as was customary at the time mastered the disciplines of drawing and sculpture.
The 1777 Almanach des Artistes described him as a bon dessinateur, travaille d'après ses dessins. He became the appointed bronzier to the Sèvres Manufactory and was replaced after his death by Pierre-Philippe Thomire.
The ormolu mounts on the central vase echo the porcelain model created in early 1774. In the 18th century, all three pairs were hung with chains and tassels which were probably damaged and are now lacking.

Christie's a écrit:
THE ORIGIN OF THE FORM
Symbolic of life, the egg has always fascinated artists. In the 18th century, the egg represented the world in a more general fashion.
The Sèvres Manufactory offered a choice of models described as oeuf, vase oeuf, or en forme d'oeuf, oeuf monté, or garniture de vases oeuf.

These models were produced in both different sizes and levels of quality in the decoration, as is suggested by the large variation in price between 7 livres, 10 and 1344 livres each.
Other elaborately decorated vases were bought by private individuals ranging between 480 and 1344 livres. They were fitted out with ormolu mounts in the most fashionable taste by the bronziers attached to the Sèvres Manufactory. (...)

Various different vase models were created from the basic egg form, such as the vase oeuf à couronne et effigie royale, vase oeuf Louis XVI garni, vase oeuf à plaques, vase à oeuf gaudronné ou cannelé, vases oeuf cygnes...600/1200, vase oeuf guirlandes...360 livres.

Voici donc quelques autres modèles de vases, de forme ovoïde, différemment décorés et montés.
Ils précèdent d'une décennie les vases pots-pourris à décors de chinoiseries présentées précédemment.


Vase 'à médallion du roi'
Manufacture de Sèvres
Possibly Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis, the Elder (1695 - 1774), Designer
Sèvres, France, c. 1768
Soft-paste porcelain, enamel and gilt-bronze, gilded
Object size: 37.5 x 21.7 cm
Image : The Wallace Collection

Description :

This lavish vase derives its name from the large portrait medallion of King Louis XV, prominently placed in the centre and framed by a laurel wreath. Executed in biscuit (unglazed) porcelain, it shows the King as a young man - he was in his late 50’s when the vase was made - and follows a design by sculptor Edme Bouchardon which was first cast in bronze in 1738.

The model was introduced in 1767 and is probably the first to include such a portrait of the king who had become Sèvres sole owner in 1759.
The cover, surmounted by the emblem of French royalty, fleur de lys, is in the form of a French royal crown and closely resembles the decoration on a Sèvres inkstand also in the Wallace Collection (see C488), designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, who may also have been responsible for this model.

The clock dial on the back, although signed by 18th-century clockmaker Jean Lepautre, is presumably a later addition and might have replaced a second portrait medallion.

Only two other examples of this model are known, and while one in the Royal Collection may have belonged to the King’s mistress Madame du Barry, this vase is likely to have been presented (possibly with two green-ground vases now at the Walters Art Museum) to King Christian VII of Denmark by Louis XV himself in 1768.
During his sojourn in France that year, Christian had visited the Sèvres manufactory and also received a dinner service. Porcelain objects were often given as diplomatic gifts, serving not only as a sign of special recognition, but also demonstrating the virtuosity of the King’s royal porcelain manufactory.

Vase à médaillon du roi
Sèvres Porcelain Factory, c. 1768
Attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis (père) (c. 1695-1774) (designer)
After Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) (medallist)
Soft-paste and biscuit porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze | 39.8 x 21.7 x 16.5 cm
Image : The Royal Collection Trust

Description (extrait) :
Of the four known versions of this model, three are in the Royal Collection. This version, decorated with a bleu nouveau ground, gold œil-de-perdrix, partridge eye, pattern and low-relief medallions in biscuit porcelain, is the finest and most complete.

The youthful profile head of Louis XV reproduces a medallion designed by Edmé Bouchardon (1698-1762), first cast in bronze in 1738 and later used on coinage and commemorative medals.
It is possible that this vase is one of three purchased by Madame du Barry from the factory in December 1768, shortly before she was presented at Court and acknowledged as the new official mistress of Louis XV. (...)




Vase à médaillon du roi
Sèvres Porcelain Factory, c. 1767-68
Soft-paste porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze | 42.9 x 21.4 x 16.4 cm
Sèvres soft paste porcelain vase and cover. Bleu nouveau ground with repeating and diminishing pattern of gold dots and gilded decoration; vase egg shaped raised on a globelike support with a wooden cover. Two reserves with a pair of putti and plaque, garlands of acorn and oak. The front may have had a dial.
Images : The Royal Collection Trust





Vase à médaillon du roi
Sèvres Porcelain Factory, c. 1767-68
Soft-paste and biscuit porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze | 42.8 x 21.4 x 16.1 cm
Images : The Royal Collection Trust

Description :

Sèvres soft paste porcelain vase inset with a clock and with a cover. Bleu nouveau ground with gilded decoration, vase egg-shaped with gilt dot circle decoration and scrolls at the sides linked by gilded oak swags, reverse with inset biscuit medallion mounted with right profile of Louis XVI.

The addition of Louis XVI’s head is more likely to have been made after the restoration of the monarchy in France in 1814-15, possibly by an enterprising dealer with an eye to the main chance, who may have wished to add to the appeal of this vase, at a time when souvenirs and images of the martyred monarch were much in demand in both France and England.

The original medallion of Louis XV could have been defaced during the French Revolution, in accordance with the prescriptions issued by the revolutionary government.
On 17 July 1793 the Director of the Sèvres manufactory was informed by Dominique-Joseph Garat, Minister of the Interior, that it was essential :‘de faire disparaître totalement dans un établissement devenu national, tout ce qui peut rappeller le souvenir de la royauté et les emblems de l’orgueil Despotique’.
In this instance he had in mind the replacement of the royal interlaced LLs cipher.4
It follows that, in a spirit of revolutionary fervour, Louis XV’s effigy could have been defaced by a republican zealot. Perhaps it was among the goods confiscated which had belonged to the exiled and decapitated aristocracy.

The bronze head would have been added to conceal this deficiency. The French movement, which has circular plates measuring 6 cm in diameter, is powered by two going barrels. It is fitted with a tic-tac escapement with a pendulum hung on silk, 12 cm in length. The striking train has a count-wheel and strikes on a bell.






Pair of Lidded Vases (with reserve scenes of female and male figure)
France, Sèvres Manufactory, c.1768–1769
Painting reserves attributed toJean-Baptiste-Etienne Genest (French, active 1752 - 1789)
Soft-paste porcelain, bleu Fallot ground color, grisaille enamel decoration, and gilding; gilt-bronze mounts
45.1 × 24.1 × 19.1 cm (17 3/4 × 9 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.), Object Number 86.DE.520.1 and 86.DE.520.2  
Images : The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Sera prochainement présentée aux enchères à l'occasion de la vente...

Sotheby's Paris - Hôtel Lambert, une collection princière


A pair of Sèvres Royal Portrait bleu nouveau two-handled vases and covers (vases 'oeufs garnis')
circa 1774
The ovoid bodies reserved with Royal biscuit portrait medallions of the King Louis XVI or Queen Marie Antoinette, bust-length in profile, below gilded husk medallions suspended from swags issuing from the plain and gilt key-pattern leaf-moulded handles, the covers moulded with white and gilt bands of stiff leaves and hare bells, the lower part with similar gadrooning, supported by square bases, the blue ground gilt with cornucopia, fronds and plinths supporting cockerels and birds below bands of scrolling foliage, blue interlaced L's mark, blue gilders mark for Le Guay
Height 16¾in.; 42,7 cm.

Provenance
Almost certainly the pair recorded in the factory records for 1774 as vases oeufs garni ; (...)




Catalogue Note

The present pair of vases appear to be only examples of their type recorded in the literature. The plaster model for the vase showing Louis is retained in the Sèvres factory archives, which was named ‘Vase œuf Louis XVI garni’ by Albert Troude, as it was modelled with the King’s profile.I

Modèle en plâtre, appelé vase oeuf de Louis XVI garni
A. Troude, choix de modèles de la manufacture nationale de porcelaine de Sèvres
Musée de la céramique, 1897, planche 123
Image : Sotheby's

The plaster model differs slightly with a basket-weave moulded foot rather than stiff acanthus leaves, as seen on the present vases. A pair of bleu Fallot-ground vases reserving grisaille medallions, 1769, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, obj. no. 86.DE.520, has similar basket-moulding at the feet (voir mon précédent message). In his catalogue entry Sassoon writes that no design survives for the model of the Getty vases but that drawings survive for other egg-shaped vases variously inscribed Vase œuf à Monté (dated 1784), Vase œuf (1788), and Vase œuf à griffes (undated).ii

Étienne-Henry Le Guay’s script initials mark rarely appears on Sèvres porcelains dated before 1773. He worked on several special commissions and objects which were acquired by members of the Royal family: In 1780-81 he gilded the five-vase bleu nouveau-ground garniture, ‘Vases des âges’, painted with classical scenes, that was purchased by Louis XVI on 2November 1781.iii He is recorded as working for five days in June 1782 on the Comtesse du Nord’s toilet service, and a ‘Gobelet des Mesdames’ in overtime in 1783, probably for the aunts of Louis XVI for their château de Bellevue.
He worked on the service commissioned for Catherine the Great, and the service Arabesque for Louis XVI. Le Guay was a qualified ‘doreur et décorateur de la manufacture Royale des porcelaines de Sèvres’, so it is possible he painted arabesques on the service for the king.iv
Similar playful scenes of birds to those seen here gilded by Le Guay can be seen on a series of beau bleu - ground cups and saucers, circa 1780-85, one of which is in the Royal Collection, London, and two formerly in the Collection of the Earls of Rosebery, Mentmore.v


Following his father and grandfather, Le Guay first worked as a tourneur at Saint-Cloud, and was employed at Vincennes briefly in 1742- 43 and 1748-49 before returning in 1751. He initially signed for his wages as a painter, and though from 1753 he was paid as a gilder, he may also have worked intermittently as a painter. The gaps in his employment at Vincennes were due to his engagement in the military during which he maimed his left hand at the Battle of Fontenoy.



The biscuit portrait medallions are possibly after models by Louis-Simon Boizot. A biscuit medallion of Marie Antoinette, close to present example, in the British Museum, London. Aileen Dawson notes in A catalogue of French Porcelain in the British Museum, 1994, p.195, that in 1774 Tristant le jeune was paid 4 sous apiece for a total of 1274 médaillons du Roy et de la Reine , and for the model of the same subjects‘ pour Bague’, for which he received 74 livres .


The vases are comparable to an egg-shaped vase introduced in 1767, the vase à médaillon du roi, possibly designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, which was affixed with a biscuit portrait medallion of Louis XV from a design by Edme Bouchardon. In all, four are recorded, which comprises a green-ground example in the Wallace Collection, London, which may have been given as a gift by Louis XV to the King of Denmark in 1768, and three, all with a bleu nouveau oeil-de-perdrix-ground, in the Royal Collection, London. (Voir mes précédents messages)

The present vases may also be compared to a bleu nouveau - ground pot-pourri vase and cover, ‘pot-pourri Mercure’, circa 1770, affixed with biscuit medallions of Louis XV of France and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, now in the Royal Collection, London.


Pot-pourri Mercure
Soft paste and biscuit porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze
Sèvres porcelain factory, c. 1770
Sèvres soft paste porcelain pot pourri vase and cover with oval biscuit medallions with profile portraits of Louis XV and Empress Maria Theresa
Specially commissioned to commemorate the alliance of Marie Antoinette to Dauphin Louis XVI in 1770?
Image : The Royal Collection Trust

De Bellaigue comments that the vase could have been specially commissioned to commemorate the alliance between France and Austria, and gives a date of 1770, on the marriage between the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette. It is conceivable the present vases were produced to celebrate the occasion of Louis ascending the throne in 1774.


Notes
[i] Choix de Modeles de la Manufacture Nationale de Porcelaines de Sevres Appartenant au Musee Ceramique, 1897, pl. 117.[ii] Sassoon, op.cit., 1991, p. 94.[iii] Three vases are now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, obj. nos. 84.DE.718.103; the other two vases are now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, acc. nos. 48.566/567, illustrated in Sassoon, ibid, pp. 126-135, no. 25.[iv] Savill, op. cit., Vol. III, pp. 1045-1047.[v] Obj. no. RCIN 39843, illustrated in de Bellaigue, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 836-37, no. 219; The Estate of the Sixth Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 24 May 1977, lots 2117-2118.

* Source et infos complémentaires : Sotheby's Paris - Hôtel Lambert, une collection princière (11 octobre 2022)

Nous avions déjà présenté cet ensemble en introduction de ce sujet et les voici mis en vedette à l'occasion d'une exposition organisée par le J. Paul Getty Museum :

Exposition : Porcelain from Versailles, Vases for a King and a Queen. Getty Center (Los Angeles)

Les pièces ont été prêtées par le château de Versailles qui présente ainsi cette collaboration et, brièvement, les vases couverts de la reine :

TROIS VASES DE MARIE-ANTOINETTE PRESENTES AU J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM

Le château de Versailles prête au J. Paul Getty Museum à Los Angeles une garniture de trois vases « œuf » ayant appartenu à la reine Marie-Antoinette. Ces chefs-d’œuvre produits par la manufacture royale de Sèvres seront présentés durant un an dans l’exposition Porcelain from Versailles : Vases for a King and Queen (du 14 février 2023 au 3 mars 2024, Getty Center).
Ce prêt exceptionnel s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un partenariat initié en 2001 entre les deux institutions.

Ensemble de vases ayant appartenu à Marie-Antoinette
Manufacture de Sèvres (fabricant) ; Lécot, Louis-François (peintre sur porcelaine) ; montures attribuées à Duplessis, Jean-Claude-Thomas (bronzier)
Porcelaine dure, bronze ciselé et doré, 1774-1776
H. 47 ; D. 27 cm. Pds. 10 kgs et H. 37,5 ; D. 22,5 cm. Pds. 5 kgs
Image : Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin

Un ensemble de chefs-d’œuvre des collections versaillaises

À la fin des années 1770, les porcelaines à décors chinois sont très emblématiques de la production de la manufacture royale de Sèvres. Ces pièces de prestige, très coûteuses, sont très en vogue auprès de la famille royale. Ainsi, le comte de Provence, frère de Louis XVI, acquiert-il une garniture de trois vases montés à décors sinisants en 1775. (voir messages précédents)


Image : Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin

Un an plus tard, à la fin de l’année 1776, la reine Marie-Antoinette achète un ensemble identique qu’elle dispose sans doute dans ses cabinets intérieurs du château de Versailles, avant de les envoyer à Saint-Cloud, après 1785, où ils sont saisis en 1794 puis cédés lors des ventes révolutionnaires. Le procès-verbal alors établi décrit « une garniture de trois vases de porcelaine de Sèvres à fond blanc à dessins chinois, à gorges à jour ornées d’anneaux, cordes, glands et anses en cuivre ciselé et doré d’or moulu, sur des socles de forme carrée en cuivre doré ». Les bronzes dorés sont attribués à Duplessis, et les décors chinois réalisés par Lécot.

Image : Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin

Un décor virtuose

La production de ces œuvres est un véritable tour de force de la Manufacture. En effet, l’usage de la pâte dure requérait une technique de décoration spécifique, ici parfaitement maîtrisée par Lécot.
Le peintre a déployé un usage prodigieux de la dorure appliquée sur de larges zones, se mêlant aux coloris apposés au lavis où dominent le bleu, le rose, le vert et le noir. Le profil des personnages et leur costume est également souligné d’un filet d’or ou d’un trait noir, à l’imitation des motifs de soieries chinoises. Enfin, toutes les surfaces dorées des fleurs et des pagodes, travaillées avec une grande minutie, se détachent harmonieusement du fond uni.

Image : Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin


Figure chinoise
Jean Pillement
Gravure, 1758
Image : Getty Research Institute

(...)

Le cabinet doré de la reine

La garniture de trois vases « œuf » à décor chinois est habituellement présentée dans le Cabinet doré des petits appartements de la Reine. Dans cette pièce, révélatrice du goût de Marie-Antoinette, la souveraine recevait un cercle choisi d’intimes.
Le décor actuel du salon date de 1783 et la plupart des meubles qui y sont aujourd’hui rassemblés s’y trouvaient du temps de la souveraine, notamment les fauteuils et les chaises de Georges Jacob couverts de velours vert à passementerie d’or.
C’est là que la Reine choisit, à partir du début des années 1780, de présenter notamment sa collection personnelle de laques du Japon, dont certains ont été présentés au Getty Center en 2018-2019.

Image : Château de Versailles / C. Fouin

L’exposition

L’exposition Porcelain from Versailles: Vases for a King and Queen réunit deux des plus remarquables ensembles de vases en porcelaine ayant appartenu à Louis XVI et Marie Antoinette. Ces œuvres constituent l’une des plus grandes prouesses de la manufacture de porcelaine de Sèvres avant la Révolution française. Trésors personnels de la famille royale, ces vases témoignent du savoir-faire remarquable des artistes qui participèrent à leur création.

Image : J. Paul Getty Museum

Le premier ensemble, prêté par le château de Versailles, appartenait à la Reine. Il est richement décoré de scènes évoquant l’Extrême Orient.

La seconde garniture, constituée de cinq vases, a été acquise par le Roi et presentée dans la bibliothèque de ses appartements privés du château de Versailles. Sur cet ensemble, appelé Vases des Âges, les anses dorées des œuvres sont sculptées dans un style naturaliste qui évoque le cycle de la vie. Vendus pendant la Révolution, les vases furent dispersés dans différentes collections. Aujourd’hui, les trois vases centraux appartiennent au Getty Museum et les deux plus petits sont présentés au Walters Art Museum de Baltimore. L’exposition les réunit probablement pour la première fois depuis le départ de la famille royale de Versailles en 1789.


Porcelain from Versailles: Vases for a King and Queen
Du 14 février 2023 au 3 mars 2024
Getty Center - J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Informations : Getty edu - Exhibition Versailles Porcelain