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Lot Essay
These extremely rare ormolu-mounted bamboo-shaped brush-pot vases are related to the vase visible on the left of the chimneypiece in Baron de Besenval's portrait by Pierre-Henri Danloux and can be associated with four known pairs: one in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace (RCIN 2312), a pair in the Lascelles family collection on display in the gallery at Harewood House, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. 820-1882) and a pair sold at Christie's, London, 4 December 1975, lot 47.
Combining fine Chinese celadon-glazed and unglaze copper-red porcelain with rich French ormolu mounts, these vases embody the ingenuity and unique creative output of Parisian marchands-merciers, such as Lazare Duvaux, who provided objets de luxe for collectors of Chinese porcelain. Such marchands took advantage of the huge popularity of Chinese porcelain in mid-18th century society and modified them by adding rich and sinuous rococo mounts to fit with the prevailing interior decorative style of the period. The presence of the related examples in the Royal Collection and Harewood House demonstrates the high regard with which these luxury objects were later held in England and supplied in turn by the art dealers of the Regency period like Robert Fogg, who provided French-mounted Chinese porcelain to both George IV and the Lascelles family. Comparison of the Weinstock vases with the Royal Collection and Harewood examples demonstrates the resourcefulness of the marchands-merciers and the bronziers they commissioned in adapting porcelain and mounts to fit their needs: the main bamboo trunk of these vases has been reduced in height, possibly due to a break, and a rim mount added to conceal the ground edge - it is at least one section shorter than the Royal Collection pair; and the additional thinner bamboo shoot springing up from the base that exists on the Royal Collection pair (with an additional ormolu flower inserted) may have been been broken off, necessitating the creation of a shoot of ormolu lingzhi, mirroring those applied in porcelain beside it, to conceal the break (now ground down) that is revealed beneath the mount.
Combining fine Chinese celadon-glazed and unglaze copper-red porcelain with rich French ormolu mounts, these vases embody the ingenuity and unique creative output of Parisian marchands-merciers, such as Lazare Duvaux, who provided objets de luxe for collectors of Chinese porcelain. Such marchands took advantage of the huge popularity of Chinese porcelain in mid-18th century society and modified them by adding rich and sinuous rococo mounts to fit with the prevailing interior decorative style of the period. The presence of the related examples in the Royal Collection and Harewood House demonstrates the high regard with which these luxury objects were later held in England and supplied in turn by the art dealers of the Regency period like Robert Fogg, who provided French-mounted Chinese porcelain to both George IV and the Lascelles family. Comparison of the Weinstock vases with the Royal Collection and Harewood examples demonstrates the resourcefulness of the marchands-merciers and the bronziers they commissioned in adapting porcelain and mounts to fit their needs: the main bamboo trunk of these vases has been reduced in height, possibly due to a break, and a rim mount added to conceal the ground edge - it is at least one section shorter than the Royal Collection pair; and the additional thinner bamboo shoot springing up from the base that exists on the Royal Collection pair (with an additional ormolu flower inserted) may have been been broken off, necessitating the creation of a shoot of ormolu lingzhi, mirroring those applied in porcelain beside it, to conceal the break (now ground down) that is revealed beneath the mount.