A pair of Louis XV gilt-bronze mounted Chinese lacquer pots pourris, mid-18th century

This pair of pots pourris combining Chinese lacquer, French gilt-bronze mounts and porcelain flowers encapsulates the fashion for mounting materials from the Far East once they arrived in France. This fashion was particularly promoted by marchands-merciers who were trusted to adapt these foreign wares to the Parisian luxurious tastes of the mid-18^th century. There were no clearly appropriate shapes for pots-pourris among the repertoire of Chinese and Japanese forms, so the ever-imaginative marchands-merciers adapted existing pieces to create new pots-pourris. Occasionally lidded bowls were used, either with additional holes pierced into the lids, or with the addition of a pierced silver or bronze frieze to separate the two pieces. Another alternative, as on the present lot, was to match two similar bowls to create a unit with base and cover.

Similarly-shaped pots pourris were sold at Christie’s, Paris, 7^th March 2017, lot 72 and Christie’s, New York, 30^th April 1999, lot 26. Another pair of pots pourris formerly in a European collection was sold, Sotheby's, New York, 17^th November 1984, lot 128.