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Lot Essay
Only one other vase of this exact model, scale and decoration, almost certainly originally forming the pair to the Swinton vase, is known and this is now in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (Inv. no. 1901.228). It came from the dealer A. Wertheimer in London, who acquired it at the sale of the collection of the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Edmund Commerell (Christie's London, 12 July 1901, lot 67). Decorated in a technique known as wulin or or noir, this brilliant, luminous, deep black glaze - sometimes referred to as mirror black- is also seen on a pair of vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (illustrated in C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts: An illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p.110, no.87). Highly prized in the 18th Century and probably the inspiration for the later Sèvres black-ground vases of the Louis XVI period, a large vase with this decoration is known to have reached Europe in the early 18th Century, as it was owned by Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony. This latter vase is now conserved in the Dresden Museum (Bursche, op. cit., p.157, no.203).
Almost certainly executed by the same bronzier, the identical and distinctive gilt-bronze neck mount features on other known pot-pourri vases. These include:- one from the Hodgkins Collection, reproduced in La Chinoiserie en Europe au XVIIIème Siècle, Paris, 1910, pl.38; another sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 18 June 1994, lot 280; another, formerly owned by the Earls of Ducie, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 1 July 1995, lot 189; and, lastly, a pair sold by the comte de N., Sotheby's Monaco, 19 December 1995, lot 219. A further
closely related example is in the Toledo Museum of Art (Inv. no. 55.244), illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, Chinese Porcelain in European Mounts, New York, 1980-81, no.21, pp.44-45.
Although the provenance of this vase beyond Ismael Pasha remains untraced, it was in all probability made for the Turkish market and remained in Constantinople until the late 19th Century. It is interesting to note, therefore that Said Pasha was Ambassador to Paris from the Sublime Porte of Constantinople at exactly this time and sat for a portrait by Jacques-André Aved in Paris, which was exhibited in the Salon of 1742 and is now at Versailles. This depicts His Excellency standing in front of a Louis XV bureau plat attributed to Boulle fils, which is of the same model as that in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (A. Sassoon and G. Wilson, Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1986, no.58, p.27). The pair to the vase on offer came to the Kunstgewerbemuseum in 1901 from the dealer A. Wertheimer in London, who acquired it at the sale of the collection of the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Edmund Commerell (Christie's London, 12 July 1901, lot 67).
ISMAEL PASHA
Ismael Pasha ruled Egypt from 1863 until he was forced to abdicate in 1879. He presided over the celebrations for the opening of the Suez Canal and instituted an ambitious programme of modernization. However his plans failed due to Egypt's serious financial situation, compounded by his own extravagance.
SWINTON HOUSE
The core of the collections at Swinton was built up by successive generations of the Danby family, who had lived at Swinton since 1695. The 1st Lord Masham, ancestor of the present Earl of Swinton, bought the house and much of its contents in 1882 and expanded the collection with several pieces of French furniture and objets d'art in the goût Rothschild. Buying in particular from the dealer Davis of Pall Mall, Masham was also advised by the legendary Sir J. C. Robinson, first Curator of the South Kensington Museum, which is now the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. As M. Baker, B. Richardson et al. noted in A Grand Design The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1997, Robinson and Cole travelled regularly across Europe during the 1850's and 1860's to assemble for the Museum a collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture, majolica, metalwork, textiles and furniture that remains unmatched. Robinson's particular loves were sculpture and, above all porcelain, his unerring eye often outpacing existing scholarship, and indeed he was amongst the first to recognise the importance of Medici proto-porcelain. After his departure from the Museum in 1868, he was appointed Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures (1882-1901) and continued to advise both the Museum and private collectors.
Almost certainly executed by the same bronzier, the identical and distinctive gilt-bronze neck mount features on other known pot-pourri vases. These include:- one from the Hodgkins Collection, reproduced in La Chinoiserie en Europe au XVIIIème Siècle, Paris, 1910, pl.38; another sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 18 June 1994, lot 280; another, formerly owned by the Earls of Ducie, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 1 July 1995, lot 189; and, lastly, a pair sold by the comte de N., Sotheby's Monaco, 19 December 1995, lot 219. A further
closely related example is in the Toledo Museum of Art (Inv. no. 55.244), illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, Chinese Porcelain in European Mounts, New York, 1980-81, no.21, pp.44-45.
Although the provenance of this vase beyond Ismael Pasha remains untraced, it was in all probability made for the Turkish market and remained in Constantinople until the late 19th Century. It is interesting to note, therefore that Said Pasha was Ambassador to Paris from the Sublime Porte of Constantinople at exactly this time and sat for a portrait by Jacques-André Aved in Paris, which was exhibited in the Salon of 1742 and is now at Versailles. This depicts His Excellency standing in front of a Louis XV bureau plat attributed to Boulle fils, which is of the same model as that in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (A. Sassoon and G. Wilson, Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1986, no.58, p.27). The pair to the vase on offer came to the Kunstgewerbemuseum in 1901 from the dealer A. Wertheimer in London, who acquired it at the sale of the collection of the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Edmund Commerell (Christie's London, 12 July 1901, lot 67).
ISMAEL PASHA
Ismael Pasha ruled Egypt from 1863 until he was forced to abdicate in 1879. He presided over the celebrations for the opening of the Suez Canal and instituted an ambitious programme of modernization. However his plans failed due to Egypt's serious financial situation, compounded by his own extravagance.
SWINTON HOUSE
The core of the collections at Swinton was built up by successive generations of the Danby family, who had lived at Swinton since 1695. The 1st Lord Masham, ancestor of the present Earl of Swinton, bought the house and much of its contents in 1882 and expanded the collection with several pieces of French furniture and objets d'art in the goût Rothschild. Buying in particular from the dealer Davis of Pall Mall, Masham was also advised by the legendary Sir J. C. Robinson, first Curator of the South Kensington Museum, which is now the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. As M. Baker, B. Richardson et al. noted in A Grand Design The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1997, Robinson and Cole travelled regularly across Europe during the 1850's and 1860's to assemble for the Museum a collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture, majolica, metalwork, textiles and furniture that remains unmatched. Robinson's particular loves were sculpture and, above all porcelain, his unerring eye often outpacing existing scholarship, and indeed he was amongst the first to recognise the importance of Medici proto-porcelain. After his departure from the Museum in 1868, he was appointed Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures (1882-1901) and continued to advise both the Museum and private collectors.