In the manner of Clodion

gilt and patinated bronze 

Please note that this piece currently located in Hong Kong

The bustling procession depicted on this wine cooler or jardinière is a bacchanalian procession, in this case linked to the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne. In the Roman myth, as told by Ovid, the Cretan princess Ariadne is left on the island of Naxos by her lover Theseus, and is rescued from her despair by the Bacchus, the god of festivity, fertility and wine. In many versions of the legend, he throws her jewelled crown to the sky to create the constellation known as Corona Borealis.

The myth has been taken up by numerous artists including Titian, but most relevantly here by Ancient Greek sculptors on the side of the monumental vase known as the Borghese vase, now held in the Louvre (MR 985).

The present wine cooler takes up the same theme but with more density and detail: for instance, there are architectural structures suggested in very low relief in the distance, and some additional attendants hold perfume burners aloft, both of which are absent on the Borghese vase. In this depiction, Bacchus can be identified as the figure reclining on the chariot holding the bunch of grapes in the air, while Ariadne is the figure to the left; the figure on the back of the donkey is Silenus, the drunken old man who often numbers among Bacchus’ entourage.

The bronze cooler is adorned with gilt-bronze mounts in the tradition of luxury objets montés: precious objects such as porcelain were often given functional metal mounts to protect them from chips and cracks, but by the eighteenth century these mounts had become decorative sculptural elements in their own right. Though the objects being mounted were often pieces of Chinese or Japanese porcelain imported at huge cost, they could also be used for European porcelain, glassware, hardstones and even, like on the present lot, for objects that were themselves made of metal.

These mounts are in the classical manner that is typical of the Louis XVI style, and thus complement the scene from Roman mythology that is pictured on the wine cooler.