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Lot Essay
This vase was part of an important Imperial commission by Emperor Napoleon I and was intended as a gift for Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1783-1851), the fourth son of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. The vase is recorded as one of a pair in the Sèvres sales registers on 15 September 1808: ‘2 vases forme étrusque sujets tivrés de la campagne d’Egypte, les sujets et le decor traités dans le genre étrusque en rouge et noir’ listed under the heading ‘Livré par ordre de l’Empereur a S A M. Le Prince Guillaume de Prusse’. The pair cost of 3,200 livres. 1
Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret (1782-1863) was the artist responsible for the design and decoration on this vase and the original pen and ink drawings by him from the series ‘Bonaparte et la campagne d’ Egypte’ are in the Sèvres archives. Both drawings are signed; ‘Les pestiférés de Jaffa’ is dated 1805 while ‘Bonaparte remet un blessé aux Soins d’Esculape’ is dated 1804. The painters’ work records of 1807 under ‘Mr. Bergeret Peintre’ record two separate entries for the vase. The first in February: ‘1 Vase Etrusque Denon porcelaine peinte des sujets Egyptiens’, for which he received 200 livres, and the second recorded in September of the same year '1 Vase étrusque...Denon pour deux sujets de figure au traits noir représentant un sujet de la campagne d'Égypte et un alégorie, Vu et mémoire livré fin de septembre 1807.', for which he was paid 350 livres which included payment for the decoration of eleven plates in the same month (Vj'14, under the year 1807, p. 116).
Bergeret was a painter, pioneer lithographer and designer who studied with Jacques-Louis David. He was born in Bordeaux but moved to Paris where he worked in the atelier of François-André Vincent and met Ingres. He is recorded as working at Sèvres in 1806, 1807 and 1811. A large closely related Sèvres vase 'à Bandeau’ also painted by Bergeret in the Attic style entered the sales registers on 21 April 1806 and was delivered to Château de Saint-Cloud for the Emperor on 4 May of that year. It is decorated with similar Etruscan-style scenes depicting Napoleon in an Etruscan guise leading the Battle of Austerlitz in a chariot. Bergeret received 300 francs for his 'Etruscan drawings of the conquest of Germany' and a further modest payment for the decoration of the vase itself. By 30 April 1805 Bergeret had produced three 'Egyptian' designs for the Sèvres manufactory, two of which are likely to be the design source for the present vase, and he continued to work sporadically for Sèvres until 1814 when he stopped decorating porcelain. For the ink and watercolour drawing of the Allegory of the Battle of Austerlitz by Bergeret, 1806, see Tamara Préaud, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847, Bard Graduate Centre, New York, 1997, p. 180, fig. 14 and p. 84, figs. 6-10 for the Sèvres vase 'à Bandeau', now in the Musée de Malmaison.
The fashion for Etruscan-inspired decoration was first seen at the Sèvres manufactory in 1785 but it was so successful that it continued to be adapted for Imperial propaganda purposes during the Empire period. Napoleon's military successes in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801) which are referenced on this vase were used to propagate Napoleon's Imperial powers and in combination with a classical form lend an antique 'authenticity'. Very few pieces of Sèvres porcelain in this Attic-style exist and it is also exceptionally rare to see depictions of Napoleon in the guise of Greek God. In this case in the scene ‘Bonaparte remet un blessé aux Soins d’Esculape’ he associates himself with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, endowing himself with the power to heal. Tamara Préaud records Alexandre Brongniart's comment that 'this sort of painting is not rich, but it is severe, monumental, and the only kind that can be executed quickly,' see Tamara Préaud, ibid., 1997, p. 84, note 52. The scene depicting Napoleon visiting the plague stricken city of Jaffa is probably inspired by a painting of the same subject in the Louvre which was commissioned in 1804 by Napoleon from Antoine-Jean Gros and shows Napoleon in Jaffa on 11 March 1799, when the General Bonaparte made a daring and spectacular visit to his sick soldiers.
Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (3 July 1783 – 28 September 1851) had a distinguished military and diplomatic career. He served in the Guards from 1799 and was present at the battle of Auerstädt on 14 October 1806. After the Prussian defeat by the Napoleonic armies and a demand by France for full payment of war reparations a desperate King Frederick Wilhelm III of Prussia sent his brother Prince Wilhelm to Paris to plead his case for him with Napoleon in a bid to reduce the war burdens imposed upon his country. The Prince had his first audience with the Emperor on 8 January 1808 and is said to have offered himself and his wife as hostages for the payment of the debt. An astonished Napoleon is believed to have replied ‘That is very noble but I cannot accept, never, never’. On 23 February they met again, Napoleon having employed delaying tactics to put off the meeting. Prince Wilhelm used his time to study the French army and wrote some valuable reports on the topics of education and training. On 8 September 1808 the Treaty of Paris was signed; it marked the most humiliating point of Prussia’s history. On 7 October Prince Wilhelm shared a coach with Napoleon as they travelled to Erfurt, Weimar and Jena. This gift from the Emperor Napoleon to the Prince seems unusual given the circumstances but perhaps was intended to mark a mutual respect and admiration as the two men sought to maintain a relationship, one as the victor, the other representing a nation defeated.
The Sèvres archives first records the vase Etrusque ‘a larmier’ in 1804 though the designer is unknown.
1. See Vbb: Présents et ventes à crédit, mentioned in the register Vbb 2: crédit au gouvernement, an 8-1810, p. 87. Other than the two vases Etrusque the delivery to the Prince comprised: ‘2 Vase Clodian…1 cabaret de 16 piecès fables de la Fontaine…1 cabaret a ‘café’ de 15 piecès vert et chrome…I Buste de l’Empereur Napoleon, couranne en bronze’ at a total cost of 19,270 livres, see sales register, Vbb: Présents et ventes à crédit’, Vbb 2: crédit au gouvernement, an 8-1810, p. 89.
Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret (1782-1863) was the artist responsible for the design and decoration on this vase and the original pen and ink drawings by him from the series ‘Bonaparte et la campagne d’ Egypte’ are in the Sèvres archives. Both drawings are signed; ‘Les pestiférés de Jaffa’ is dated 1805 while ‘Bonaparte remet un blessé aux Soins d’Esculape’ is dated 1804. The painters’ work records of 1807 under ‘Mr. Bergeret Peintre’ record two separate entries for the vase. The first in February: ‘1 Vase Etrusque Denon porcelaine peinte des sujets Egyptiens’, for which he received 200 livres, and the second recorded in September of the same year '1 Vase étrusque...Denon pour deux sujets de figure au traits noir représentant un sujet de la campagne d'Égypte et un alégorie, Vu et mémoire livré fin de septembre 1807.', for which he was paid 350 livres which included payment for the decoration of eleven plates in the same month (Vj'14, under the year 1807, p. 116).
Bergeret was a painter, pioneer lithographer and designer who studied with Jacques-Louis David. He was born in Bordeaux but moved to Paris where he worked in the atelier of François-André Vincent and met Ingres. He is recorded as working at Sèvres in 1806, 1807 and 1811. A large closely related Sèvres vase 'à Bandeau’ also painted by Bergeret in the Attic style entered the sales registers on 21 April 1806 and was delivered to Château de Saint-Cloud for the Emperor on 4 May of that year. It is decorated with similar Etruscan-style scenes depicting Napoleon in an Etruscan guise leading the Battle of Austerlitz in a chariot. Bergeret received 300 francs for his 'Etruscan drawings of the conquest of Germany' and a further modest payment for the decoration of the vase itself. By 30 April 1805 Bergeret had produced three 'Egyptian' designs for the Sèvres manufactory, two of which are likely to be the design source for the present vase, and he continued to work sporadically for Sèvres until 1814 when he stopped decorating porcelain. For the ink and watercolour drawing of the Allegory of the Battle of Austerlitz by Bergeret, 1806, see Tamara Préaud, The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847, Bard Graduate Centre, New York, 1997, p. 180, fig. 14 and p. 84, figs. 6-10 for the Sèvres vase 'à Bandeau', now in the Musée de Malmaison.
The fashion for Etruscan-inspired decoration was first seen at the Sèvres manufactory in 1785 but it was so successful that it continued to be adapted for Imperial propaganda purposes during the Empire period. Napoleon's military successes in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801) which are referenced on this vase were used to propagate Napoleon's Imperial powers and in combination with a classical form lend an antique 'authenticity'. Very few pieces of Sèvres porcelain in this Attic-style exist and it is also exceptionally rare to see depictions of Napoleon in the guise of Greek God. In this case in the scene ‘Bonaparte remet un blessé aux Soins d’Esculape’ he associates himself with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, endowing himself with the power to heal. Tamara Préaud records Alexandre Brongniart's comment that 'this sort of painting is not rich, but it is severe, monumental, and the only kind that can be executed quickly,' see Tamara Préaud, ibid., 1997, p. 84, note 52. The scene depicting Napoleon visiting the plague stricken city of Jaffa is probably inspired by a painting of the same subject in the Louvre which was commissioned in 1804 by Napoleon from Antoine-Jean Gros and shows Napoleon in Jaffa on 11 March 1799, when the General Bonaparte made a daring and spectacular visit to his sick soldiers.
Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (3 July 1783 – 28 September 1851) had a distinguished military and diplomatic career. He served in the Guards from 1799 and was present at the battle of Auerstädt on 14 October 1806. After the Prussian defeat by the Napoleonic armies and a demand by France for full payment of war reparations a desperate King Frederick Wilhelm III of Prussia sent his brother Prince Wilhelm to Paris to plead his case for him with Napoleon in a bid to reduce the war burdens imposed upon his country. The Prince had his first audience with the Emperor on 8 January 1808 and is said to have offered himself and his wife as hostages for the payment of the debt. An astonished Napoleon is believed to have replied ‘That is very noble but I cannot accept, never, never’. On 23 February they met again, Napoleon having employed delaying tactics to put off the meeting. Prince Wilhelm used his time to study the French army and wrote some valuable reports on the topics of education and training. On 8 September 1808 the Treaty of Paris was signed; it marked the most humiliating point of Prussia’s history. On 7 October Prince Wilhelm shared a coach with Napoleon as they travelled to Erfurt, Weimar and Jena. This gift from the Emperor Napoleon to the Prince seems unusual given the circumstances but perhaps was intended to mark a mutual respect and admiration as the two men sought to maintain a relationship, one as the victor, the other representing a nation defeated.
The Sèvres archives first records the vase Etrusque ‘a larmier’ in 1804 though the designer is unknown.
1. See Vbb: Présents et ventes à crédit, mentioned in the register Vbb 2: crédit au gouvernement, an 8-1810, p. 87. Other than the two vases Etrusque the delivery to the Prince comprised: ‘2 Vase Clodian…1 cabaret de 16 piecès fables de la Fontaine…1 cabaret a ‘café’ de 15 piecès vert et chrome…I Buste de l’Empereur Napoleon, couranne en bronze’ at a total cost of 19,270 livres, see sales register, Vbb: Présents et ventes à crédit’, Vbb 2: crédit au gouvernement, an 8-1810, p. 89.