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This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 Jun 11 @ 11:00UTC-08:00 : PST/AKDT
property from the john hobbs collection A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED ROUGE Du LANGUEDOC LARGE WINE CISTERN The cistern late 17th / early 18th century, the ormolu circa 1780 Carved from a single piece of marble, of oval section with a deeply molded lip, body and conforming foot, the lip, shoulder, stem and foot set with strung bead courses, each end set with a rams’ head, their horns scrolled back, the long hair of their necks molded to fit the outline of the vase 31 X 59 X 41 in. (79 X 150 X 104 cm) $150,000-200,000 provenance Reputedly Ch‚teau de Versailles Baron Alfred de Rothschild (1829-1918), Halton, Buckinghamshire, circa 1882-1918 (fig. 1). Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942), Exbury House, Hampshire, 1918-1942. Thence by descent. literature Rothschild, Miriam. The Rothschild Gardens. London, 1996, p. 127, illus. THE ROTHSCHILD PROVENANCE The present cistern was in the collections of Baron Alfred (fig. 2) by 1884, when it was photographed by Bedford Lemire in the Winter Garden of his house at Halton (fig. 3). The second son of Baron Lionel (1808-1879) and grandson of the eponymous founder of the British branch of the Rothschild Bank, Nathan Mayer (1777-1736), Alfred was one of the greatest collectors of French decorative arts in England. His collections at Halton and his London home in Seamore Place, Park Lane, easily rivaled those of the fourth Marques of Hertford (1800-1870) and Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890), and were second only to those of his cousin, Baron Ferdinand (1839-1898) at Waddesdon Manor. Alfred’s father died in 1879, having given him the 30,000-acre Halton estate a few years previously. In 1882-1883 he had built there a Neo-Renaissance ch‚teau by the English architect William Rogers, carried out by Cubbits. A director of the Bank of England, Alfred lived in London during the week and traveled widely for business, returning to Halton on weekends to entertain. The interiors were accordingly designed and fitted out in a sumptuous and elaborate manner with Dutch and English paintings, SËvres porcelain, jeweled snuff boxes, gilt boiseries, marble floors, and a Moorish smoking room. (for a full account of Alfred’s collections, see The Rothschilds: A European Family. Sigmaringen, 1997, Vol.II, p. 346 ff.) Alfred’s accounts for the period 1879-1885 reveal several trips to Paris, usually with his cousin Ferdinand, to buy objects and boiseries for his new house, and the present cistern may well be that referred to as “A Massive Vase Mounted” bought from Versailles directly, with the assistance of M. Bajon amateur in either 1881 or 1882 for an undisclosed price. Alfred employed 50 gardeners at Halton, and the gardens contained at least one specimen of every native British tree, planted full grown, French parterres, a Chinese water garden, an Italian garden, a grotto, a lake, rose gardens, an Indian tent, an Austrian chalet, many statues, a circus ring and a kitchen garden containing 50 greenhouses. However, one of the most spectacular aspects OF the gardens, was the glass-domed conservatory filled with palms, bamboo, ferns, exotic flowers and roses. It was at the center of the conservatory that the present wine cistern was used as a jardiniËre (fig. 3). The cistern remained in the Winter Garden at Halton until 1918, when the estate passed to Alfred’s nephew Lionel Nathan (1882-1942), who removed it to Exbury House, Hampshire. Upon his death, it was dismantled when the House was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and put into store. THE CISTERN The form of this wine cistern derives from the great baths of ancient Rome carved from one piece of marble, of which a number survive, notably those in the Vatican and those outside the Palazzo Farnese. The swelling curves which this cistern presents in profile serve to emphasize its massiveness, and reflect the grand, stately baroque style prevalent under Louis XIV. The same molded rim and oval shape occur in a basin in the sculpture by FranÁois Girardon (1628-1715), executed circa 1670, of Apollo attended by Nymphs in the Grotte d’Apollon at Versailles. Its curves and the oval shape were paralleled in England at this time by the great silver wine cisterns such as those at Burghley. From the 17th century until the development of refrigeration, ice for grand houses was cut in blocks from lakes in the winter, then packed in straw in ice houses deep underground. This provided the means to serve chilled wine and even sorbets throughout the summer. Three smaller ormolu-mounted rouge St. RÈmy and Rouge de Flandre marble wine cisterns of comparable shape are known, all set with ringed lion masks to either end (Carlton Hobbs. Vol. III. London, 1992, no. 12, pair; The Wendell Cherry collection. (sold Sotheby’s New York, May 21, 1992, lot 44.) THE MOUNTS The ormolu mounts on the present vase are remarkable for both the quality of the sculpture and the accuracy of the depictions of ram or goat heads – interchangeable in French as tÍte de belier or tÍte de bouc. Varying slightly in details, they were each cast in three pieces, the horns being separate and later joined. The chasing and burnishing that gives animation to the hair, eyes and slightly protruding tongues, is of the highest quality. Ram heads only became a popular decorative motif in the second half of the 18th century, with the Neoclassic revival from the end of the reign of Louis XV through the reign of Louis XVI. However, the early manifestation of interest in classical designs was considerably heavier in feeling than these mounts, being closer to the Greek than the Roman style, even being called le gÙut Grec in the 1760’s, and becoming highly refined and detailed by the end of the 18th century. It is, therefore, possible to date them stylistically to about 1780. Monumental pieces of ormolu are extremely rare, and though these ram heads may seem entirely in proportion to the scale of the vase, they are amongst the largest gilt bronzes still extant from 18th century France. The largest piece is certainly the brazier given by Louis XV to the Sultan of Turkey in 1742, designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis (1695-1774). (Topkapi Palace, Istanbul; Pierre Verlet, Les Bronzes Dore Francais du XVIIIe Siecle, Paris, 1987, color pl. 9.) The closest comparison both in terms of size (55 x 76 cm) and design must undoubtedly be the porphyry vase also mounted with ram heads in the Wallace Collection, with its associated pedestal, designed by the architect Charles de Wailly (1729-1798) in 1761 for Marc-Rene-Jean-Pierre-Charles d’Argenson, Marquis de Voyer (1722-1782). (Peter Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Furniture, London, 1996, Vol. III, no. 271, pp. 1329-35, no. 284, pp. 1380-82.) The vase was carved by Jacques Adam (maÓtre in 1746), who would later collaborate on similar projects with the bronzier Pierre GouthiËre (1732-1813, maÓtre in 1758). The ram heads were cast and chased by the orfËvre Robert-Joseph Auguste (1723-1805, maÓtre in 1757), after sculptural models by Augustin Pajou (1730-1809). The mounts were gilded by Jean Lafeuillade (maÓtre in 1747). Simply mounted, as are the present ram heads, the Wallace pair are smaller and their horns are entwined with grape vines, but the similarities are striking. THE DUC D’AUMONT AND THE MENUS-PLAISIRS The most revealing collection of objects of similar design and materials was undoubtedly that of Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d’Aumont (1709-1782) sold in Paris on December 12, 1782. (James Parker, ed. Le Cabinet du duc d’Aumont. New York, 1986.) The duc was directeur-general des Menus Plaisirs, the department of State responsible for all festivities, weddings, funerals and coronations of the Royal House. The Menus Plaisirs also provided for the Royal Palaces fittings and fixtures that were not furniture or textiles and the care and storage of these pieces became the responsibility of the Garde Meuble. The production of marble sculpture, hardstones and mounted vases, objects in ormolu and gilt metal was coordinated by the Menus Plaisirs, whose hotel particulier stood on the place Louis XV, the present site of the Hotel Crillon. The duc d’Aumont commissioned many of the most important hardstone and marble vases from his workshops, often reusing old stone, as with the present cistern, and ordered them to be mounted in ormolu to decorate the Royal Palaces, mostly Versailles, but also Saint Cloud, Marly, La Muette, Fontainebleau and CompiËgne, as well as the Louvre and the Tuileries.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Friday June 7, 2002 , Monday June 10, 2002
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