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Lot Essay
These well-documented jewel-like tazze, conceived as antique ‘athéniennes’ and incorporating precious hardstones, were in the illustrious collections of Jean-Nicolas de Boullongne (d. 1787), Intendant des Finances, and subsequently in the collection of the banker Guillaume Sabatier (d. 1808).
The present tazze, with bowls cut from green porphyry or ‘serpentine antique’, bases of serpentine from the Vosges and embellished with delicate, finely chased mounts, reflect the passion for hardstones of the 1770s and 1780s. The duc d’Aumont (d. 1782), was the director of the Menus-Plaisirs and established a workshop in 1770 specialising in the cutting and polishing of precious hardstones. This celebrated atelier employed the influential architect François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818) as designer, Pierre Gouthiére (1732-1813) as ciseleur-doreur, Augustin Bocciardi (fl. 1760-1790) as sculpteur and Guillemain for giving the hardstones a 'polis ferme et brillant'.
Pierre Gouthiére and Augustine Bocciardi collaborated on the production of splendid bronzes d’ameublement many destined for the Royal palaces but also for the private collection of the duc d’Aumont himself. Following their sale in 1787 from the estate of Jean-Nicolas de Boullongne the present tazze are probably the pair recorded as being in the collection of Jean-Baptiste-Charrançois de Clermont d’Amboise (1728-1792), French ambassador to Lisbon in 1767 and Naples in 1775. They were subsequently seized from his home in 1793, less than a year after his death, by the revolutionary authorities and were recorded in the inventory at the Nesle depot in 1794, they were subsequently send to the Museum Central des Arts (now the Louvre) on 21st August 1794. A pair of extraordinary pot-pourri vases in Chinese turquoise porcelain with mounts by Gouthiére were also confiscated from his collection at the same time and are now in the Louvre (OA 5182).
JEAN-NICOLAS DE BOULLONGNE (1726-1787)
Born in 1726 in Versailles, Jean-Nicolas de Boullongne, comte de Nogent and baron de Marigny was the son of the minister Jean de Boullongne. He succeeded his father as Intendant of Finances for Louis XV on 13th April 1753. A State Councilor in 1765, he was admitted as a member of the Royal Council of Finances and Commerce in 1767. In the same year he was also appointed governor and lieutenant to the King in Montereau. In 1784 he was appointed commissioner of the Compagnie des Indes.
In 1753, he married Louise-Julie Feydeau de Brou, daughter of the Garde des Sceaux Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou. Their home, the château of Chapelle-Godefroy, near Nogent-sur-Seine, in the Aube had an extensive decorative scheme executed by Charles-Joseph Natoire, who had spent nine years working on the paintings for the château, which are considered some of the artist’s most important works. Indeed Boullongne was clearly a Maecenas of both Fine and Decorative Art, his collection included celebrated contemporary pictures, in particular The Toilette of Venus executed by François Boucher for Madame de Pompadour in 1751, now in the Met (20.155.9), as well as works by Claude Vernet and Hubert Robert, sculptures by Houdon, ormolu-mounted vases, porcelain and Boulle marquetry furniture.
The estate was seized in 1792, and the castle was burnt down during the campaign of France in 1814.
GUILLAUME SABATIER (1730-1808)
A native of Montpellier, Guillaume Sabatier became the heir to the oldest bank in Languedoc, the Maison Sabatier. He came to Paris to establish a branch of the family business, which covered several activities between 1770 and 1793, including banking, textile trading as well as trade with the islands and shares in the Compagnie des Indes. In October 1793, the Revolutionary tribunal decided to confiscate the goods of the Compagnie des Indes and arrest its leaders. Sabatier narrowly escaped the guillotine. Released after the 9th Thermidor, he tried with two other directors, Mallet the elder and Louis-Victor Moreau, to obtain the restitution of the seized goods. With only three ships recovered, the shareholders decided to liquidate the Company in July 1795. However, the Revolution had not altered the family’s power and Guillaume Sabatier became one of the most influential Parisian bankers under the Directoire and the Empire. In 1800, he was one of the founding shareholders of the Banque de France and obtained a seat as censor on the board.
Sabatier was a close friend of the great connoisseur and collector Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776) and under his guidance assembled an impressive art collection including Dutch 17th century still lifes, furniture and objets d’art. Following his death in 1808, his collection was dispersed at his estate sale on 20th and 21st March 1809 where the present lot was lot 86.
The present tazze, with bowls cut from green porphyry or ‘serpentine antique’, bases of serpentine from the Vosges and embellished with delicate, finely chased mounts, reflect the passion for hardstones of the 1770s and 1780s. The duc d’Aumont (d. 1782), was the director of the Menus-Plaisirs and established a workshop in 1770 specialising in the cutting and polishing of precious hardstones. This celebrated atelier employed the influential architect François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818) as designer, Pierre Gouthiére (1732-1813) as ciseleur-doreur, Augustin Bocciardi (fl. 1760-1790) as sculpteur and Guillemain for giving the hardstones a 'polis ferme et brillant'.
Pierre Gouthiére and Augustine Bocciardi collaborated on the production of splendid bronzes d’ameublement many destined for the Royal palaces but also for the private collection of the duc d’Aumont himself. Following their sale in 1787 from the estate of Jean-Nicolas de Boullongne the present tazze are probably the pair recorded as being in the collection of Jean-Baptiste-Charrançois de Clermont d’Amboise (1728-1792), French ambassador to Lisbon in 1767 and Naples in 1775. They were subsequently seized from his home in 1793, less than a year after his death, by the revolutionary authorities and were recorded in the inventory at the Nesle depot in 1794, they were subsequently send to the Museum Central des Arts (now the Louvre) on 21st August 1794. A pair of extraordinary pot-pourri vases in Chinese turquoise porcelain with mounts by Gouthiére were also confiscated from his collection at the same time and are now in the Louvre (OA 5182).
JEAN-NICOLAS DE BOULLONGNE (1726-1787)
Born in 1726 in Versailles, Jean-Nicolas de Boullongne, comte de Nogent and baron de Marigny was the son of the minister Jean de Boullongne. He succeeded his father as Intendant of Finances for Louis XV on 13th April 1753. A State Councilor in 1765, he was admitted as a member of the Royal Council of Finances and Commerce in 1767. In the same year he was also appointed governor and lieutenant to the King in Montereau. In 1784 he was appointed commissioner of the Compagnie des Indes.
In 1753, he married Louise-Julie Feydeau de Brou, daughter of the Garde des Sceaux Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou. Their home, the château of Chapelle-Godefroy, near Nogent-sur-Seine, in the Aube had an extensive decorative scheme executed by Charles-Joseph Natoire, who had spent nine years working on the paintings for the château, which are considered some of the artist’s most important works. Indeed Boullongne was clearly a Maecenas of both Fine and Decorative Art, his collection included celebrated contemporary pictures, in particular The Toilette of Venus executed by François Boucher for Madame de Pompadour in 1751, now in the Met (20.155.9), as well as works by Claude Vernet and Hubert Robert, sculptures by Houdon, ormolu-mounted vases, porcelain and Boulle marquetry furniture.
The estate was seized in 1792, and the castle was burnt down during the campaign of France in 1814.
GUILLAUME SABATIER (1730-1808)
A native of Montpellier, Guillaume Sabatier became the heir to the oldest bank in Languedoc, the Maison Sabatier. He came to Paris to establish a branch of the family business, which covered several activities between 1770 and 1793, including banking, textile trading as well as trade with the islands and shares in the Compagnie des Indes. In October 1793, the Revolutionary tribunal decided to confiscate the goods of the Compagnie des Indes and arrest its leaders. Sabatier narrowly escaped the guillotine. Released after the 9th Thermidor, he tried with two other directors, Mallet the elder and Louis-Victor Moreau, to obtain the restitution of the seized goods. With only three ships recovered, the shareholders decided to liquidate the Company in July 1795. However, the Revolution had not altered the family’s power and Guillaume Sabatier became one of the most influential Parisian bankers under the Directoire and the Empire. In 1800, he was one of the founding shareholders of the Banque de France and obtained a seat as censor on the board.
Sabatier was a close friend of the great connoisseur and collector Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776) and under his guidance assembled an impressive art collection including Dutch 17th century still lifes, furniture and objets d’art. Following his death in 1808, his collection was dispersed at his estate sale on 20th and 21st March 1809 where the present lot was lot 86.