A pair of hard-paste porcelain vases; the black ground painted in two-tone gold and platinum, with gilt-bronze mounts. Decorated with floral garlands around the neck and Chinoiserie scenes of hunting and worship around the main body. The chased mounts including a flared lip with gadrooning and beading, and a circular beaded foot mounted on a square base.

The inspiration for this model may have been one of the so-called Etruscan vases sold to Louis XVI by Vivant Denon (1747-1825) in 1786. This collection was placed on deposit at Sèvres to provide inspiration for the artists and sculptors. Only one other pair of vases of this form is known.

The fashion for black-ground chinoiserie scenes at Sèvres, variously described as fond noir or fond écaille, reflected the taste for oriental-inspired decoration and reached its height between 1790 and 1793. A possible source for the two figures worshipping a monkey seated on a column is an engraving published in 1759 by Pierre-Charles Canot (b.1710) after Jean-Baptiste Pillement.

The prevailing neo-classical style is represented by the gilded swags and garlands and scrolling arabesques, which, stylistically, are close to the gilt-bronze mounts fitted to furniture in the Louis XVI style.

Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009