Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume I : Chefs-d’oeuvre
Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume I : Chefs-d’oeuvre
A Sèvres (hard-paste) Royal portrait vase (vase à oreilles), circa 1774-1775
Auction Closed
October 11, 05:25 PM GMT
Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
A Sèvres (hard-paste) Royal portrait vase (vase à oreilles), circa 1774-1775
of the third size, painted with a portrait medallion of Marie Clotilde of France, the reverse with a medallion reserving a bouquet of flowers, decorated with gilt foliate scrolls, painted red interlaced L's mark, painter's mark PT for Pierre-Nicolas Pithou l’aîné, gilder's mark 2000 for François-Henry Vincent, incised 9R
height 7 in.; 19.7 cm.
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Vase "à oreilles" en porcelaine dure, Manufacture de Sèvres, 1774-1775
peint avec le portrait de Madame Clotilde, L entrelacé peint en rouge, marque de peintre PT pour Pierre-Nicolas Pithou, marque de doreur 2000 pour Francois-Henry Vincent, incisé 9R
height 7 in.; 19.7 cm.
Probably purchased by King Louis XVI of France in 1775 from the Sèvres manufactory for 480 livres. (Not listed in his rooms at Versailles in the revolutionary inventories, so probably taken by Louis XVI to the Tuilleries with other personally-elected items when he was moved away from Versailles);
Adrian Sassoon, London;
Acquired from the above in 2015.
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Probablement acheté par le roi Louis XVI, roi de France, en 1775 à la manufacture de Sèvres pour 480 livres. (Non répertorié dans ses chambres à Versailles dans les inventaires révolutionnaires, donc probablement emporté par Louis XVI aux Tuileries avec d'autres objets choisis personnellement lorsqu'il a été déplacé de Versailles);
Adrian Sassoon, Londres;
Acquis auprès de lui en 2015.
The Sèvres factory archives record that on 7 August 1774, the flower painter Parpette was paid 48 livres for painting ‘fleurs et fruit’ on a vase à oreilles with ‘portrait de Princesse de Piedmont’. In 1775 a single vase of unspecified shape with ‘portrait de Mme Clotilde’ was purchased by Louis XVI for 480 livres, which probably is the present vase.
Madame Clotilde (1759-1802), was the younger sister of Louis XVI, and in 1775 was married to Charles-Emmanuel of Savoy who was known at that time as the Prince of Piedmont, and from 1796 was the King of Sardinia. The image on the present vase shows the Princess before she became overweight, so it likely dates from before her marriage and departure from France to Italy.
Pierre-Nicolas Pithou l’aîné was an exceptional painter of figures. He contributed painted porcelain plaques to a series of nine depicting King Louis XVI hunting in parklands, commissioned by the King for the salle à manger in his petit apartement at Versailles. They were painted at the Sèvres between 1779 and 1781, after the tapestry cartoons executed by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, between 1733 and 1746, for the Royal Gobelins factory. They are now retained at the Château de Versailles, inv. nos. MV5411, 5413, 5416. In 1785-86, he painted the plaque 'The sultana giving her orders to the odalisques', after Amédée Van Loo, which was bought by Louis XVI at the Versailles exhibition in 1787, now at Versailles, inv. no. V5142. He is recorded as a painter of figures, and probably flowers, from 1760-90. François-Henry Vincent is recorded as a gilder at the factory from 1753-1800.