Pair of Sèvres style porcelain and ormolu vases by Sévin

This pair of Sèvres style porcelain vases features superb ormolu (gilt bronze) mounts by Louis-Contant Sévin, one of the leading designers in bronze during the second half of the 19^th Century.

Each cobalt-blue ground porcelain vase is supported by a square ormolu stand appended with ornately scrolled foliate feet. This stand supports the circular porcelain foot of the vase, the foot skillfully adorned with encrusted and parcel gilt laurel leaves. The foot culminates in a waisted socle, which in turn holds the bulbous, almost spherical body of the vase.

The body of each vase is painted to the front with a scene of courtly life—a fête galante—and to the rear with a floral spray of flowers visited by a bird. Each painting, distinctly Rococo in nature and palette, is contained by a tooled gilt foliate cartouche, the arabesque nature of which complements the manner of the ormolu mounts. Each vase rises to a curved cylindrical neck, parcel gilt with gadrooning, which broadens to a wide mouth that is mounted with a gadrooned ormolu rim.

The shoulder of each vase is mounted with twin ormolu putti-form handles, each putto seated on a spread of ormolu acanthus leaves that issues from belly of the vase.

The ormolu is stamped ‘LC’ for Sévin.