ATTRIBUTED TO LUIGI AND GIUSEPPE VALADIER, CIRCA 1785

This exceptional pair of ‘Borghese’ vases is an excellent demonstration of the quality of the Valadier dynasty’s artistic production and the esteem in which their creations have been held by the wealthiest and most discerning European collectors from the 18th to the 21st century.

With mounts characterised by exquisite chasing and extraordinarily refined quality, these vases are related to a number of works by the father and son Luigi (1726-1785) and Giuseppe Valadier (1769-1832). The striking and contrasting presence of gilt-bronze on white marble seen on our vases is closely related to a pair of ormolu-mounted white marble and porphyry vases delivered by Luigi Valadier in 1773 to Madame Du Barry at the château de Versailles where they are still currently preserved (inv. GML 10013.2), as well as a pair of vases executed in Rome in 1783 for Count Luigi Braschi Onesti, Duke of Nemi (1745-1816), currently preserved in the Louvre (OA 6621). The workmanship of the ormolu mounts on our vases further recall the frieze of a fireplace executed in gilt-bronze in the Sala della Flora on the first floor of the Villa Borghese in Rome. This work was executed by Luigi Valadier and invoiced posthumously to his son Giuseppe in 1786. The acanthus and lanceolate leaves of the fireplace show the same finesse and dexterity of chasing as the socles on our vases. Further evidence for an attribution to the Valadiers is a drawing for an ormolu-mounted marble vase by Giuseppe Valadier currently preserved in the Museo Napoleonico in Rome (inv. MN 8600). The form of our vase is mirrored in the drawing as is the egg-and-dart everted rim, turned socle and gadrooned waist of the vase. The ormolu frieze is of a different scene but similar in character to the thiasus seen on our vases and the handle is also of a similar design.

Founded by Andrea Valadier (1695-1759) in Rome in 1725, the output and reputation of the Valadier dynasty reached its zenith under Luigi Valadier (1726-1785), said to be producing his finest work at the time of his death in 1785, precisely when these vases were produced. The workshops passed to Giuseppe Valadier (1769-1832), an architect who produced designs both for fine works of art and for building projects such as the Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio. Under his management the workshops continued to produce magnificent objects but Giuseppe never gained quite the acclaim his father had enjoyed. Having led the silversmiths and bronze-founders of Rome for a century, the workshop was eventually sold in 1827.

The gilt-bronze decoration of our vases is based on the thiasus, the procession of Dionysus found on the famous Borghese vase in the Louvre (inv. Ma 86). The procession depicts the mythological figure Silenus supported by Dionysus and accompanied by an entourage of satyrs and bacchants dancing and playing musical instruments. Of ancient Greek origin, the Borghese vase had been discovered among the ruins of the Gardens of Sallust in Rome during the 16th century and was soon celebrated across Europe as an exquisite example of ancient sculpture, giving rise to a large number of imitations by the finest European artisans and contributing to the rise of neoclassical taste. Acquired from the Borghese family by Napoleon in 1807, the vase became part of the Louvre collections in 1811. It is interesting to note however that the form of our vase, with its gadrooned base and two handles, is based more closely on the other great vase of classical antiquity, the Medici Vase. Our design is therefore a resolute and informed expression of neoclassicism, combining elements of the two most celebrated vases of ancient Western civilisation.

As evidenced by the Du Barry and Nemi commissions, vases such as these were sought after by influential figures at Royal courts across Europe from the 1770s onwards. A pair of remarkably similar ormolu-mounted marble vases in the Museum of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco have almost identical mounts to our own. They were owned by the founder of the museum Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (1881-1968), indicating the enduring appeal of such objects into the modern era.

THE PROVENANCE

These vases are further distinguished by their illustrious provenance with one of the greatest collectors of the 19th century, Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918). Considered alongside his cousin Ferdinand de Rothschild as the most important British collector of French art in the late 19th century, Alfred was described as ‘the finest amateur judge of French 18th-century art in England’ (Barbara Lasic, Furniture History, Vol. 40 (2004), p. 135). He assembled a magnificent collection at his home in Buckinghamshire, Halton House. The house was built in the style of a French château, similar to his cousin Ferdinand’s nearby home Waddesdon Manor, and is an expression of the famous ‘Goût Rothschild’. The house was constructed according to plans by the architect William R. Rogers and was completed in 1884. Along with his London home at Seamore Place, Halton was the repository for many treasures displayed in opulent interiors. A publication commissioned by Alfred to illustrate his collections includes the vases, illustrated here containing flowers and on later stands.
On Alfred’s death Halton House passed to his nephew Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1918) who sold the majority of the contents at auction in 1918. The house was subsequently sold to the RAF who established the headquarters of RAF Halton in the building in 1920.
Lionel purchased the Exbury estate in Hampshire in 1919 and after a neo-Georgian reconstruction in the 1920s, our vases became part of the collection. Lionel established a world-famous garden at Exbury that contains to this day one of the largest collections of plants in the United Kingdom.