A pair of neo-classical cachepots

A pair of late Louis XV gilt bronze-mounted Chinese blue porcelain cachepots – circa 1770-1775

The porcelain Qianlong Period (1736-1795)

Height: 35 cm. (13 ¾ in.)     Width: 30 cm. (11 ¾ in.)

Provenance

Galerie Segoura, Paris

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Kravis, New York

Comparative Literature

D.Alcouffe et al., Les bronzes d’ameublement du Louvre, Dijon, 2004, p. 146, no. 70.

The mounts on these cachepots exemplify French neo-classical taste in the latter stages of Louis XV’s reign. They are similar to those fitted to a pair of Chinese turquoise porcelain lidded vases in the Louvre (Alcouffe, op. cit., no. 70).

Originally in the renowned collection of Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766), they were bought in his famed post-mortem sale by Louis XV, having been described in the catalogue as:
couvercle est terminé par un Magot, de même porcelaine, rieur & à gros ventre ; ils sont richement ornés de bronze, goût antique, & méritent attention par leur forme, & la rareté de trouver en cette qualité des morceaux de pareille conséquence.

(1424 Two antique celestial blue barrels with dragons in relief on a plain ground, each lid finished with a laughing, pot-bellied Magot in the same porcelain; they are richly decorated with bronze in the goût antique (i.e. neo-classical style), and deserve attention for their shape, and the rarity of finding pieces of such consequence in this quality.)

The Louvre’s vases were transferred to Saint-Cloud after the Revolution where they remained until at least the Second Empire, when they adorned the study of Empress Eugénie.