THE MOUNTS THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, THE PORCELAIN WITH GREEN LOZENGE S71 GROUND-COLOR MARK FOR 1871

These exquisite vases, with their bold 'à la Grec' mounts, embody the most robust Neoclassicism of the 1760s and 1770s, while reflecting the constant search for innovation promoted by the marchands-merciers of Paris. Styling himself as 'Dulac marchand gantier-parfumeur et bijoutier rue Saint Honoré près de l'Oratoire à la tête d'or', Jean Dulac (d. 1786) proclaimed in his advertisment that he could provide ‘garniture de cheminées, vases montées en omolou’. This celebrated model is one of the earliest types of Sèvres vases à monter and, judging from the number of surviving examples in both the 18th and 19th centuries, the most enduringly successful. A parfumeur by profession, Dulac appears consistently in the sales register at Sèvres from 1758-1776. He acquired the majority of the production of this model, known as vases-cloches, purchasing a total of twenty between 1772 and 1779. Commonly incorporating the amusing device of concealed candle branches to the underside of the lids, Dulac's 18th century originals were popular among the sophisticated collectors of the day, with examples acquired by Madame du Barry, Horace Walpole and Prince Baryatinski for Grand Duke Paul's apartments at Pavlovsk.