Vase commemorating the Great Exhibition 1855
Unglazed porcelain, painted in enamels; bronze mounts | 155.0 x 112.0 x 112.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 90715
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This giant vase was commissioned by the French Emperor as a gift for Prince Albert. It was completed in time for the Paris Exhibition of 1855 and presented during the State Visit to Paris in 1855.
One of the largest of all Sèvres productions, it was made in four separate parts. The painted decoration, designed by Jean-Lèon Gérôme, celebrated the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Text from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love.Provenance
Presented to Prince Albert by the French Emperor Napoleon III on 22 August 1855 during the state visit to Paris. In the course of the first visit by the royal couple to the Palais de l’Industrie of the Exposition Universelle, the Emperor led his guests to the Central Court, reserved for a display of the crown jewels and of the latest productions of the imperial manufactories: the Gobelins, Beauvais, Aubusson and Sèvres. Presiding over the latter display was this monumental vase, conceived as a commemoration of the London exhibition of 1851. The Queen recorded in her Journal (22 August) that the Emperor had intended it as a gift for Prince Albert, ‘… as to him was due that Exhibition. Albert was much pleased, for it is [a] chef-d’oeuvre in every sense of the word’.
The total cost of production was 17,958 francs. The vase was shipped to London in early May 1856 and was placed in the Bow Room on the ground floor of Buckingham Palace. -
Creator(s)
(porcelain manufacturer)(porcelain painter)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Unglazed porcelain, painted in enamels; bronze mounts
Measurements
155.0 x 112.0 x 112.0 cm (whole object)
Place of Production
Sèvres [France]
