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Lot Essay
LOT ESSAY
This impressive goût grec vase carved from Serpentine Levanto marble and embellished with finely chased gilt-bronze mounts, was almost certainly formerly in the collection of the celebrated connoisseur and collector Augustin Blondel de Gagny (1695-1776), and is described in his sale as:
425: Un beau vase, garni de deux masques & anses, un bandeau, un beau pied de bronze & un socle avec un double pied de bronze doré : hauteur total 24 pouces [64.8 cm.]
The vase reappeared four years later in the collection of Antoine Poullain, conseiller du Roi et receveur général, and was precisely described in his sale, which also noted the earlier Blondel de Gagny provenance:
153- Un vase de belle qualité, forme d'urne ronde, avec son couvercle, garni de gorge, anse carrée à mascaron de chaque côté, de piédouche & plinthe de bronze doré, de double plinthe de marbre aussi de vert d'Egypte; le tout placé sur un pied, à ornements contournés de bronze aussi doré. Hauteur 23 pouces, sur 13 pouces de diamètre; non compris le pied à contour. [62 cm. high; 35 cm. wide]
Ce vase provient du cabinet de feu M. Blondel de Gagne, sous le N. 425 du catalogue.
In the 18th century the vase was presented on an additional marble plinth which accounts for the approximate 5 cm. difference in height between the present and the 18th century descriptions.
Later in the 19th century it graced the halls of North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire and remained in the family by descent until the present day.
Ranking alongside the most splendid bronzes d’ameublement produced at these Royal ateliers, the boldly cast foliate socle on the present lot is identical to a mounted vase from the duc d'Aumont's collection, now in the château de Versailles (inv. T 423 C).
With its frieze decorated with a Vitruvian scroll, Bacchic handles celebrating the god of wine, Greek-key cast frieze and leaftip decorated socle, the mounts on this vase are characteristic of the fashionable style à la Grecque of the 1760s and 1770s and are taken directly from classical ornament. This taste called upon works from Antiquity and marked - with its severity - a strong departure from the lightness of the rocaille of the preceding style.
The present vase can be compared to a corpus of ormolu-mounted vases with related bronze socle and plinth mounts. A Chinese porcelain garden stool enriched with mounts very similar to those on the socle and base of the present lot, with different handles and without Greek-key ornamentation to the plinth, is today in the Château de Versailles (Inv. T 423-C) and was formerly in the celebrated collection of the Duc d’Aumont (1709-1782). A second Chinese porcelain vase with similar socle and plinth mounts, but lacking the mille-raies waist seen on the present lot was sold from the collection of Claude-Pierre-Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foy (1736-1810) in 1782 and was then in the collection of Antoine-Charles Dulac, and subsequently offered The Exceptional Sale; Christie’s Paris, 28 November 2017, lot 710. It is possible that the mounts on all of these vases could be the work of the same bronzier.
AUGUSTIN BLONDEL DE GAGNY
Augustin Blondel de Gagny was a French connoisseur and a major collector whose series of Paris auction sales, which took place soon after his death, were high-water marks of the history of collecting in 18th-century France. He was born in Lyon in 1695 and was the son of the commissaire général de la Marine. In 1723, Blondel had already bought a house in Paris in the financial district and a country house in Garges. He began collecting around 1737, buying paintings at the sale of the Comtesse de Verrue, then in 1742 at the sale of the Prince de Carignan. In 1750, he was promoted to director of the caisse d'amortissement, then Intendant des Menus Plaisirs du Roi. Until his death in July 1776, he continually enriched his collection. The legendary sale of this collection, which began on 10 December 1777, included 400 paintings as well as marbles, vases, furniture, clocks, chandeliers and numerous mounted porcelains. Among these treasures there was an important group of ormolu-mounted neoclassical hardstone objects, including a pair of vases in levanto rosso or vert d’Egypte mounted by François-Nicolas Vassou, sold at Christie’s, London, 20 April 2007, lot 170. It is likely that the mounts on the present lot were also conceived by the bronzier François-Nicolas Vassou. The present vase is mentioned in Dictionnaire Pittoresque et Historique, Paris, 1766 by M. Hébert, who recorded the vase as being in the first room of Blondel's hôtel particulier facing the Place Louis-le-Grand (now the Place Vendôme). It was placed on a giltwood console with Lumachelle marble top facing the windows and was recorded as being in the centre between two porcelain vases and two patinated-bronze sculptures. Placed beneath the console was the celebrated porphyry vase with mounts attributed to Robert-Joseph Auguste, now in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. F357).
The vase was purchased in the deceased estate sale of Blondel de Gagny in 1776 by Antoine-Jean-Baptiste Poullain, receveur des domaines de la généralité de Châlons, it was subsequently sold in his deceased estate sale in 1780, lot 153.
NORTH MYMMS PARK
A late Elizabethan manor house dating from the end of the 16th century, North Mymms Park is one of the architectural jewels of Hertfordshire, and was home to the Coningsby, Hyde and Greville families successively for the bulk of its early history. In 1893 the house was sold to Mr and Mrs Walter Hayes Burns, the brother-in-law and sister of John Pierpont Morgan. In the 1890s considerable internal modifications and enlargements were carried out by the fashionable London architect Sir Ernest George to accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Burns' growing collection of works of art, furniture and pictures, many of which were gifts from J. Pierpont Morgan's personal collections.
This impressive goût grec vase carved from Serpentine Levanto marble and embellished with finely chased gilt-bronze mounts, was almost certainly formerly in the collection of the celebrated connoisseur and collector Augustin Blondel de Gagny (1695-1776), and is described in his sale as:
425: Un beau vase, garni de deux masques & anses, un bandeau, un beau pied de bronze & un socle avec un double pied de bronze doré : hauteur total 24 pouces [64.8 cm.]
The vase reappeared four years later in the collection of Antoine Poullain, conseiller du Roi et receveur général, and was precisely described in his sale, which also noted the earlier Blondel de Gagny provenance:
153- Un vase de belle qualité, forme d'urne ronde, avec son couvercle, garni de gorge, anse carrée à mascaron de chaque côté, de piédouche & plinthe de bronze doré, de double plinthe de marbre aussi de vert d'Egypte; le tout placé sur un pied, à ornements contournés de bronze aussi doré. Hauteur 23 pouces, sur 13 pouces de diamètre; non compris le pied à contour. [62 cm. high; 35 cm. wide]
Ce vase provient du cabinet de feu M. Blondel de Gagne, sous le N. 425 du catalogue.
In the 18th century the vase was presented on an additional marble plinth which accounts for the approximate 5 cm. difference in height between the present and the 18th century descriptions.
Later in the 19th century it graced the halls of North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire and remained in the family by descent until the present day.
Ranking alongside the most splendid bronzes d’ameublement produced at these Royal ateliers, the boldly cast foliate socle on the present lot is identical to a mounted vase from the duc d'Aumont's collection, now in the château de Versailles (inv. T 423 C).
With its frieze decorated with a Vitruvian scroll, Bacchic handles celebrating the god of wine, Greek-key cast frieze and leaftip decorated socle, the mounts on this vase are characteristic of the fashionable style à la Grecque of the 1760s and 1770s and are taken directly from classical ornament. This taste called upon works from Antiquity and marked - with its severity - a strong departure from the lightness of the rocaille of the preceding style.
The present vase can be compared to a corpus of ormolu-mounted vases with related bronze socle and plinth mounts. A Chinese porcelain garden stool enriched with mounts very similar to those on the socle and base of the present lot, with different handles and without Greek-key ornamentation to the plinth, is today in the Château de Versailles (Inv. T 423-C) and was formerly in the celebrated collection of the Duc d’Aumont (1709-1782). A second Chinese porcelain vase with similar socle and plinth mounts, but lacking the mille-raies waist seen on the present lot was sold from the collection of Claude-Pierre-Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foy (1736-1810) in 1782 and was then in the collection of Antoine-Charles Dulac, and subsequently offered The Exceptional Sale; Christie’s Paris, 28 November 2017, lot 710. It is possible that the mounts on all of these vases could be the work of the same bronzier.
AUGUSTIN BLONDEL DE GAGNY
Augustin Blondel de Gagny was a French connoisseur and a major collector whose series of Paris auction sales, which took place soon after his death, were high-water marks of the history of collecting in 18th-century France. He was born in Lyon in 1695 and was the son of the commissaire général de la Marine. In 1723, Blondel had already bought a house in Paris in the financial district and a country house in Garges. He began collecting around 1737, buying paintings at the sale of the Comtesse de Verrue, then in 1742 at the sale of the Prince de Carignan. In 1750, he was promoted to director of the caisse d'amortissement, then Intendant des Menus Plaisirs du Roi. Until his death in July 1776, he continually enriched his collection. The legendary sale of this collection, which began on 10 December 1777, included 400 paintings as well as marbles, vases, furniture, clocks, chandeliers and numerous mounted porcelains. Among these treasures there was an important group of ormolu-mounted neoclassical hardstone objects, including a pair of vases in levanto rosso or vert d’Egypte mounted by François-Nicolas Vassou, sold at Christie’s, London, 20 April 2007, lot 170. It is likely that the mounts on the present lot were also conceived by the bronzier François-Nicolas Vassou. The present vase is mentioned in Dictionnaire Pittoresque et Historique, Paris, 1766 by M. Hébert, who recorded the vase as being in the first room of Blondel's hôtel particulier facing the Place Louis-le-Grand (now the Place Vendôme). It was placed on a giltwood console with Lumachelle marble top facing the windows and was recorded as being in the centre between two porcelain vases and two patinated-bronze sculptures. Placed beneath the console was the celebrated porphyry vase with mounts attributed to Robert-Joseph Auguste, now in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. F357).
The vase was purchased in the deceased estate sale of Blondel de Gagny in 1776 by Antoine-Jean-Baptiste Poullain, receveur des domaines de la généralité de Châlons, it was subsequently sold in his deceased estate sale in 1780, lot 153.
NORTH MYMMS PARK
A late Elizabethan manor house dating from the end of the 16th century, North Mymms Park is one of the architectural jewels of Hertfordshire, and was home to the Coningsby, Hyde and Greville families successively for the bulk of its early history. In 1893 the house was sold to Mr and Mrs Walter Hayes Burns, the brother-in-law and sister of John Pierpont Morgan. In the 1890s considerable internal modifications and enlargements were carried out by the fashionable London architect Sir Ernest George to accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Burns' growing collection of works of art, furniture and pictures, many of which were gifts from J. Pierpont Morgan's personal collections.