A Chinese powder-blue garniture

A garniture of three Louis XV gilt bronze-mounted Chinese powder-blue
and gilt porcelain vases – circa 1740

The porcelain Kangxi Period (1662-1722)

Central vase

Height: 29.5 cm. (11 ½ in.)    Width: 17.5 cm. (6 ¾ in.)    Depth: 13 cm. (5 in.)

Ewers

Height: 30.5 cm. (12 in.)    Width: 14 cm. (5 ½ in.)    Depth: 10.5 cm. (4 ¼ in.)

Both ewers with a blue-bordered label numbered in black ink 1726 and with remnants of an unidentifiable circular collection label, the underside of one ewer with a collection label inscribed Collection Jacques Guerlain.

Provenance

Collection of Jacques Guerlain, Paris

Galerie J. Kugel, Paris, 1997

Private Dutch Collection

Jacques Guerlain (1874-1963)

This labels on this garniture date to its period of ownership by Jacques Guerlain, the celebrated Parisian perfumer whose iconic fragrances include l’Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsouko (1919) and Shalimar (1925). An aesthete with diverse tastes, Guerlain collected faïence, furniture by great French ébénistes such as the lacquer commode by Bernard II van Risamburgh now in the Louvre (inv. OA 11745), and Impressionist masterpieces such as Monet’s La Pie (The Magpie) in the musée d’Orsay (inv. RF 1984 164). In particular, he was a connoisseur of oriental art and particularly gilt bronze-mounted porcelain objects, such as this garniture. These collections were displayed in the grand salons of Guerlain’s Paris apartment near Parc Monceau and his house in the Loiret.

Here, this garniture’s porcelain stands out for having retained almost all its original gilding, whereas more commonly, it has worn away.