A pair of large ram’s head Serpentine vases

A pair of Louis XVI large gilt bronze-mounted Serpentine covered vases
 circa 1785

Height: 67.5 cm. (26 ½ in.)   Width: 32 cm. (12 ½ in.)   Depth: 23.5 cm. (9 ¼ in.)

Width and depth of base: 16.3 cm. (6 ½ in.)

Provenance

Collection of Hubert de Givenchy, Paris

Comparative Literature

For a pair of similar vases with foliate handles in place of ram’s heads see another pair also from the collection of Hubert de Givenchy, sold Christie’s Monaco, 4 December 1993, lots 28 and 29, and subsequently with Galerie Didier Aaron, Paris, reproduced in Catalogue XI.

Serpentine is a stone from the silicate family quarried in the 17^th and 18^th Century primarily in the region around Zöblitz in Saxony. Softer than granite, it was prized for its greenish-black colour and lustrous surface when polished.