Ormolu mounted Sèvres style porcelain vase with pedestal

This large, ovoid Sèvres style porcelain vase is mounted with ornate ormolu (gilt bronze) elements. The ormolu base of the vase is highly elaborate in structure: square in shape with canted corners, the base is mounted with a selection of ormolu forms, including medallions, fabric swags, acanthus leaves, and tassels. The porcelain socle of the vase, which stands on this base, culminates in a circular ormolu foliate mount that supports the belly of the body of the vase.

The body of the vase is decorated with two large cartouches, each of which is framed by scrolling gilt borders. The cartouche on the front of the vase contains a painted scene: three figures, a horse, and a dog interact in a landscape. The idyllic landscape, here the setting for a scene of courtly love, contains a castle in the background, which hints at the aristocratic status of the figures. The artist has employed typically Rococo style colours, particularly evident in the pastel pinks and blues. The picture is indistinctly signed lower left. The cartouche on the reverse of the body is infilled with a painted landscape of a comparable style to the scene on the front. Two men row a small boat in a lake beside a thatched cottage: their life is humbler than the courting couple, yet all can enjoy the pastoral beauty of the French countryside.

The porcelain ground of the socle, body, neck, and lid of the vase is of a beautiful dark blue. The neck of the vase, like the socle, is decorated with scrolling foliate and Classical gilt forms. The lid, which tops the neck, is similarly decorated, and is surmounted by an ormolu finial composed of two courting birds within their nest. From the circular ormolu foliate mount that delineates the socle from the body spring twin ormolu handles. Each elaborate handle is formed from an acanthus leaf wrapped column, upon which sits a lyre. The arms of each lyre gradually distort into acanthus leaves, which scroll ornately about the shoulders of the vase. Behind each lyre, seated upon the neck of the vase, is an ormolu putto.

The vase stands on a beautifully wrought ormolu stand. The stand, which dates from the 21st Century is after a 19th Century wooden original, is raised on four bun feet and supported by four scrolling cabriole legs. The top of the stand, upon which the base of the vase sits, is formed of lapis lazuli, which complements the vase's blue porcelain ground.

The vase is marked underglaze with interlaced 'L's.

Height: 201cm
Vase: Height 135cm, width 55cm, depth 45cm
Pedestal: Height 66cm, width 42cm, depth 42cm