Vase à gorges or vase à trois gorges c. 1773
Soft-paste porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze | .1 34.6 x 18.6 x 15.4, .2 34.5 x 18.9 x 16.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 36109
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Sèvres soft paste porcelain, pair of vases. Bleu nouveau ground with gilded decoration. Oval shape, trumpet shaped mouth and acanthus shaped handles; circular stem and foot with square base. Reserves painted with Turkish figures in garden landscape, reverse reserves painted with musical instruments, gardening tools and military trophies. It is possible that the Sèvres artist sought inspiration from Le Sultan Galant, engraved in 1768 by Louis Halbou (1730-1809) after Etienne Jeaurat (1699-1789).
The name vase à trois gorges may be explained by the three cavetto (concave) mouldings of the neck. The moulded and gilded relief work is of exceptionally high quality. In particular, the acanthus leaf handles create an unusual feature as they break away from the upper part of the vase, seemingly tied with a gilded ribbon, to form a plume.
Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009Provenance
Possibly purchased by Louis XV on the 23rd of December 1773 for the sum of 600 livres the pair.
Probably part of a garniture which George IV purchased from Robert Fogg in 1818 for £210. Fogg’s bill, dated the quarter ending 5 January 1819, reads: ‘3 fine Sève Porcelaine Vases blue & gold ground, Medallions of Turkish Figures’. It is conceivable that the bill post-dates the receipt of the vases at Carlton House, if they have been correctly identified as the three vases entered by Jutsham in his receipts’ ledger on 7 July 1818. He noted that they had come from the Custom House: ‘3 Old Seve Vases Blue Ground with Compartments painted with Figures in the Turkish Costume, the Centre one 17 Inches high, the 2 side Ones 14 Inches high [annotated] Old Dining Room’. By 1826 the three vases were no longer treated as a garniture – two of the vases (cat. no. 89) being recorded in 1826 in the Bow Room, Principal Floor, Carlton House: ‘No.26 A pair of blue and gold Seve Porcelain Vases with two Compartments painted in Turkish Figures and musical Instruments, white and gold leaf handles, square plinths, 13 ½ In. high’. -
Creator(s)
(porcelain manufacturer)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Soft-paste porcelain, bleu nouveau ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze
Measurements
.1 34.6 x 18.6 x 15.4, .2 34.5 x 18.9 x 16.0 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Laking PC : Laking, G.F., 1907. Sèvres Porcelain of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, London – Laking PC 94Alternative title(s)
Pair of vases
Place of Production
Sèvres [France]