NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
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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 LOUIS XVI ORMOLU AND GILT-LEAD MOUNTED VERDE-ANTICO MARBLE URN Circa 1780 The gently domed oval cover with a stepped edge and acanthus finial, the bombÈ body with sunken frieze set with guilloche and rosette, set to either end with a ringed lion head sheathed with bifurcated drapes of acanthus leaves which rejoin at the sides, the whole resting on a strung bead-decorated circular foot on a square base 171?2 X 32 X 171?2 in. (45 X 81 X 44.5 cm) $120,000-180,000 Provenance Collection of Luigi Anton Laura (sold Sotheby’s/Poulain Le Fur Paris, June 27, 2001, lot 54). THE MOUNTS The ormolu mounts on the present vase are remarkable for both the execution of the sculpture and the accuracy of the depictions of lion heads. The chasing and burnishing that gives animation to the hair, eyes and mouths is of the highest quality. Lion heads were used much less frequently as ormolu mounts on the sides of stone vessels than ram or goat heads or human heads or figures, and thus there are few comparitive pieces, the closest being a lidded rouge de Languedoc urn of the same height as the present example, formerly in the collection of Pascal Izarn. (Pierre Kjellberg, Objets montÈs du Moyen Age a nos jours. Paris, 2000, p. 157.) Such a use of the ringed lion head probably comes from contemporary silver, particularly from large soup tureens, the anonymous designs for two of which are known. (Armand GuÈrinet, ed. Documents anciens bronzes & orfËvrerie: nouveau livre de vases. Paris, 1890s, pls. 23 and 25.) The influence of silver is discernible in the design of an ormolu cassolette of circular form set with four ringed lion masks in the Residenzmuseum, Munich. (Pierre Verlet, Les Bronzes dorÈs franÁais du XVIIIe siËcle. Paris, 1987, p. 199, fig. 229.) A similar motif was also used as an ormolu mount by both the marchand Jean Dulac, applied to either side of SËvres bleu lapis porcelain vases cloches, circa 1770-1774 (Ibid., p. 205), and by the fondeur Robert Osmond, applied to either side of his urn clock, circa 1765. (Jean-Dominique Augarde, Les Ouvriers du temps. Paris, 1996, p. 255, fig. 200.) In one instance, Eunemond-Alexandre Petitot (1727-1801) used lions on the sides of a pair of porphyry vases, circa 1770, now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum. (Charissa Bremer-David et al., Decorative Arts. Malibu, 1993, p. 159, no. 270.) 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 hÙtel particulier stood on the place Louis XV, the present site of the HÙtel Crillon. The duc d’Aumont commissioned many of the most important hardstone and marble vases from his workshops, often reusing old stone, 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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