14

PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE IMARI PORCELAIN POTPOURRI C

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE IMARI PORCELAIN POTPOURRI C
property of a distinguished collector A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE IMARI PORCELAIN POTPOURRI Circa 1740 The gently domed lid with pierced scrolled rocaille finial and tapering cylindrical jar with underglaze blue decoration of flowering branches heightened with green, yellow and red overglaze enamel flowers and leaves finished with gold, separated by a pierced molded collar, on a pierced and scrolled acanthus and rocaille foot, the collar and foot joined by handles pierced and scrolled acanthus handles 10 x 91?4 in. (25.5 x 23.5 cm) $20,000-30,000 Provenance Collection of Giuseppe Rossi (sold Sotheby’s London, March 10, 1999, lot 719). Imari is a European term used to describe Japanese porcelain made at Arita, which was exported. through the port of Imari from the 17th century onward. The decoration typically consists of a dark underglaze blue with red and gold overglaze enamels, sometimes with touches of turquoise blue and green enamels. The kylin is a traditional mythical animal of China, which is said to keep away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune. This auspicious creature combines the best features of various beasts such as the head of a dragon, the horns of a deer, the nose of a pig, the back of a tiger, the waist of a bear, the body of a lion and the scales of a fish. The mounts on the present vase date to the late Louis XIV period rather than the RÈgence. The legs retain their angular ferronnerie-style S-scroll form and the architectural torus chain molding and finely engraved collar of alternating acanthus buds and leaf tips are both still present, the latter used as a means to clasp the body of a vessel since the 16th century. However, the former two elements are lighter and less massive than they had been in the late 17th century, and the Diana mask, although an established part of the iconography of the Sun King, points towards the RÈgence. The foot mount and legs were made between those on a pair of br°le parfums dated to 1690, formerly with Didier Aaron, and those on both a vase dated to 1720, formerly with Perrin, and on a RÈgence fountain, formerly in the Laura collection (sold Sotheby’s Paris, June 27, 2001, lot 14). The former retains a thick torus and legs and both of the latter have the thinner legs of the present example and RÈgence gadrooning. (Pierre Kjellberg, Objets montÈs du Moyen Age ‡ nos jours. Paris, 2000, pp. 43-44.) A Louis XIV ormolu-mounted vase in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum has the same legs and a similar torus and masks (D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinesesches und japanisches Porzellan in europ‰ischen Fassungen. Braunschweig, 1980, pl. V) and a Louis XIV ormolu-mounted vase formerly in the Laura collection has very similar legs (op. cit., lot 34). Two other pots-pourris mounted in a similar fashion are known. (Sotheby’s London, July 6, 1971, lot 123 and December 10, 1968, lot 165; Ibid., p. 266, figs. 183-84.)