A Louis XVI gilt-bronze mounted Greek green porphyry vase nacelle, circa 1780

A Louis XVI gilt-bronze mounted Greek green porphyry vase nacelle, circa 1780<br><br>Height. 17 in, width. 21 5/8 in<br><br>-----------------------------------------------<br><br>Vase nacelle et son couvercle en porphyre vert de Gr&#232;ce et monture de bronze dor&#233; d'&#233;poque Louis XVI, vers 1780<br><br>Haut. 43 cm, larg. 55 cm<br><br>Provenance<br><br>Collection du baron de Red&#233; et du baron Guy de Rothschild,<br><br>Vente Sotheby's, Meubles et Objets d'Art provenant de l'H&#244;tel de Lambert et du Ch&#226;teau de Ferri&#232;res, 25-26 mai 1975, lot 239.<br><br>Catalogue note<br><br>Marble and stone vases were very fashionable in the 18th century. Every great collection had to have some of them. Among the most famous collections of stone vases around 1770 were those of Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776) and the Duc d'Aumont (1709 - 1782), whose preamble to the catalogue of his sale after his death is very explicit on this point: "There are few ornaments more imposing, more interesting in the arrangement of a cabinet, than that which can be introduced into it by the well-understood distribution of marble vases and columns of beautiful proportions". Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were the main buyers of these vases at the sale, demonstrating the preciousness of these pieces. The greatest bronzemakers adorned these vases with bronze mounts, such as Pierre Gouthi&#232;re, who worked on around fifty pieces for the Duc d'Aumont.<br><br>These vases were extremely luxurious objects, not only because of the high cost of the stones, but also because of the technical difficulty involved. Some vases were carved from antique columns in porphyry or rare marble from Rome and all over Italy. This distant origin allowed for a direct evocation of the ancient world, the aesthetics of which made a strong comeback at the end of the reign of Louis XV in reaction to the Rococo style. The Greek style was introduced to France around 1760, shortly after the discovery of Pompeii, by the Comte de Caylus, the Marquis de Marigny, brother of Madame de Pompadour, and Lalive de Jully. Our vases, with their Greek handles, are a perfect example of this style.<br><br>The after-death sale of Randon de Boisset's collection sheds light on the presentation of these vases in the collections: they were arranged on large console tables in a gallery on the second floor of his hotel. The walls of this gallery were upholstered in green satin and hung with forty-five Dutch paintings of the highest quality. Each table was adorned with a marble top that rivalled the rarity of the vases on display, and each was framed by columns or sheaths.<br><br>The "nacelle" shape of our vase can be found under other terms in 18th-century inventories: nave, cassolettes, oblong vase. This shape was inspired by Roman models from the mid-seventeenth century that Abb&#233; Benedetti (1610-1690) had transcribed in drawing form (see "Desseins de sept vazes de diff&#233;rentes formes de l'abb&#233; Benedetti", Paris, Biblioth&#232;que nationale de France, Cabinet des estampes). Benedetti was a Roman agent for Cardinal de Mazarin and later for King Louis XIV, to whom he sent drawings of antique furniture, fabrics and statues for purchase. Few stone vases from the Louis XVI period are known to us.<br><br>These green porphyry vases, known as "serpentines of Antiquity", demonstrate the affinity for hard and other stones at the end of the 18th century of a number of renowned collectors, including Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI, and the famous Duc d'Aumont (1709-1782). The auction sale of the latter's collection on 12 December 1782 featured a very large number of these vases, most of them mounted with gilded bronzes. At the time, the stones were sought after in Italy or further afield, and some were then cut and polished in the duke's workshop, built in the H&#244;tel des Menus Plaisir du Roi, on the Boulevard du Faubourg Poissonni&#232;re. The objects were created according to the designs of ornamentalists such as the architect-decorator Fran&#231;ois-Joseph Belanger. The carving was entrusted to sculptors such as Augustin Bocciard (1760-90) from Genoa and the Frenchman Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Delaplanche. Pierre Gouthi&#232;re was responsible for the bronze mounting of some of them. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette bought several vases at the Aumont sale, including two pairs of green porphyry urns now in the Louvre collections (OA 5719 and OA5178).<br><br>At Remiremont in Lorraine, the king opened a "Manufacture privil&#233;gi&#233;e du Roi" specialising in cutting and sculpting hard stone, which was then sold in Paris. As M. Valmont-Bomare noted in the Dictionnaire Raisonn&#233; Universel d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 1791: "A magasin ou d&#233;p&#244;t des ouvrages de roches, compos&#233;s de granit, de marbre semblable au granit, de jaspe, de serpentine &amp; de porphyre, ex&#233;cut&#233;s &#224; la Manufacture Privil&#233;gi&#233;e du Roi &#224; Remiront, en Lorraine, has just been opened in Paris. These works will allow the public to judge the beauty of the minerals; we have chosen the purest forms, drawn after Antiquity; some have been adapted with simple but tasteful gilded bronze fittings of the highest quality. (...) In this repository we find vases of all shapes, columns, won supports, pedestals for busts. "<br><br>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Les vases en marbre et en pierre &#233;taient tr&#232;s en vogue au XVIIIe si&#232;cle. Toute grande collection se devait d&#8217;en conserver certaines pi&#232;ces. Parmi les collections de vase en pierre les plus c&#233;l&#232;bres vers 1770, figuraient celle de Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776) et celle du duc d&#8217;Aumont (1709 &#8211; 1782) dont le pr&#233;ambule du catalogue de sa vente apr&#232;s d&#233;c&#232;s est tr&#232;s explicite sur ce fait: &#171;<i>Il est peu d'ornement plus imposant, plus int&#233;ressant dans l'arrangement d'un cabinet, que celui qu'on peut y introduire par la distribution bien entendue de vases en marbre et de colonnes de belles proportions</i>&#187;. Louis XVI et Marie-Antoinette furent les principaux acheteurs de ces vases lors de cette vente,<br>montrant ainsi la pr&#233;ciosit&#233; de ces pi&#232;ces. Les plus grands bronziers paraient ces vases de montures de bronze, comme Pierre Gouthi&#232;re qui travailla sur une cinquantaine de pi&#232;ces pour le duc d&#8217;Aumont.<br><br>Ces vases &#233;taient des objets du plus grand luxe de par le co&#251;t &#233;lev&#233; des pierres mais aussi par la difficult&#233; technique. Certains vases &#233;taient sculpt&#233;s &#224; partir de colonnes antiques en porphyre ou en marbre rare venu de Rome et de toute l&#8217;Italie. Cette origine lointaine permettait une &#233;vocation directe du monde antique dont l&#8217;esth&#233;tique revint en force &#224; la fin du r&#232;gne de Louis XV en r&#233;action contre le style rocaille. Le go&#251;t &#171;<br>&#224; la grecque<br>&#187; fut introduit en France vers 1760 peu apr&#232;s la d&#233;couverte de Pomp&#233;i, par le comte de Caylus, le marquis de Marigny, fr&#232;re de Madame de Pompadour et Lalive de Jully. Nos vases, orn&#233;s d&#8217;anses &#224; la grecque, sont le parfait exemple de ce style.<br><br>