Large ormolu mounted Sèvres style porcelain vase

This large vase is wrought from cobalt blue Sèvres style porcelain and superb ormolu mounts. The vase is raised on a square ormolu base, the corners canted, and the surface of the ormolu finished with palmettes and scrolled rinceaux motifs. The base supports the circular porcelain foot of the vase, which is encompassed at the bottom by an ormolu wreath. The porcelain foot, parcel gilt with tooled scrolled foliate forms, supports the belly of the ovoid bodied vase via an acanthus leaf ormolu mount.

The vase is decorated to the front with an elaborate painted scene in the Rococo style of a fête galante, wherein amorous couples court and frolic in an idyllic setting. This painted scene, signed lower left ‘E. Collet’, is encompassed by a tooled gilt cartouche, the gilt wrought into a variety of complex scrolling foliate patterns. The reverse of the vase is painted with a scene of a lakeside chateau, indicating the type of setting for the scene to the front. The body of the vase is surmounted by a curvilinear, waisted neck, which is topped by a domed metal lid—a later replacement for the lost original.

The vase is mounted with twin ormolu handles, each handle issuing from a rocaille-like mount and culminating in a ringed curve at each shoulder. The lid of the vase is surmounted by an ormolu pinecone finial.