Page 84 - Pascal Izarn catalogue 2022
P. 84
AIR OF LOUIS XV GIT BRONZE-MOUNTED MEISSEN PORCELAIN EWERS – CIRCA 1745-1750
The porcelain 18th Century « Un pot-pourri de Saxe peints de sujets de Watteau, garni en bronze doré d’or
moulu pour 120 livres »
Height: 42 cm. (16 ½ in.) Width: 24 cm. (9 ½ in.) (A Meissen potpourri painted with Watteau subjects, embellished with gilt
Width of base: 19 cm. (7 ½ in.) Depth of base: 18 cm. (7 in.) bronze, for 120 pounds)
Each porcelain vase decorated with pastoral scenes (fêtes galantes) after followed on 3 June 1752 for the library of her château de Crécy:
Watteau and Pater
« Quatre vases égaux de porcelaine de Saxe à fleurs de relief, avec des
PROVENANCE cartouches de miniatures, montés en bronze doré d’or moulu, à 475 livres,
Collection of André Meyer (1898-1979), New York, and thence by 1900 livres
descent. Un autre vase, même porcelaine, 520 livres »
Christie’s New York, 27 May 1999, lot 230 (“Four vases equally of Meissen porcelain with floral reliefs and cartouches
Maurice Ségoura, Paris containing miniatures, mounted in gilt bronze, at 475 pounds [each,
totalling] 1900 pounds
EXHIBITED Another vase, in the same porcelain, 520 pounds”)
Splendeur du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Maurice Ségoura, September 1999.
A set of four white vases decorated with similar scenes is in the Quirinal
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE Palace in Rome (illustrated in González-Palacios, op. cit., no. 73). These
P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, were previously in the Ducal Palace at Parma and formed part of the
vol. III, pp. 1353-1361, no. 278. Parisian purchases brought to Parma by Madame Infante, Louis XV’s
A. González-Palacios, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale: gli arredi francesi, eldest daughter, in 1749.
Rome, 1996, pp. 276-278, no. 73.
F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, pp. 474- Vases of this type with Maiblumen decoration and with similar mounts and
475, nos. 267 A-B. scenes after Watteau are found in many public and private collections:
Vases of this form were produced at Meissen exclusively for mounting by • A pair of ewers in the Wallace Collection, London (invs. F103-4;
French marchand-merciers as in each case the porcelain is intact and not illustrated in Hughes, op. cit., no. 278).
cut down or adapted which is often the case with Asian ceramics. Virtually
all the surviving examples have similar elaborate rococo gilt bronze • A pair of potpourri vases in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (invs.
mounts, indicating they were likely specific requests by the marchand- 1944.229.1-2)
merciers to the Meissen factory.
• A pair of potpourri vases struck with the crowned ‘C’ poinçon in
They proved to be enormously popular with an elite Parisian clientele; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (invs. 1974.353.1-2,
examples are documented amongst the collections assembled by the illustrated in Watson, op. cit., nos. 267 A-B)
court banker Nicolas Beaujon and Louis XV’s maîtresse-en-titre Madame
de Pompadour. Lazare Duvaux’s celebrated Livre-Journal records a sale of The fête galante scenes on these particular ewers include some taken from
these types of Meissen vases to her on 1 September 1750: known paintings by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Jean-Baptiste
Pater (1695-1736). Painted decoration after Watteau was first used at the
Meissen manufactory in 1738 and the factory later purchased engravings
after the French artist to provide designs for its decorators (Hughes, op.
cit., p. 1360). The depiction of four figures playing a game is based on
Pater’s Le colin-maillard (Blind Man’s Buff) in the Wallace Collection (inv.
P400 and illustrated in F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris, 1928, p. 109,
ill. 295). The girl on a swing surrounded by several other figures is after
a lost Watteau entitled Les Agréments de l’été, which was engraved by
Joullain in 1732 (illustrated in E. Camesasca, The Complete Paintings of
Watteau, New York, 1968, p. 125, 2w; the original painting belonged to
the parliamentary councillor Claude Glucq in Paris).
André Meyer was a French-born investment banker who emigrated to the
United States following the Nazi occupation. Called “the most creative
financial genius of our time” by David Rockefeller, he was also known as
“the Picasso of banking” due to the innovative financing techniques he
introduced to post-War American business. His influence was such that
he advised the Kennedy family and President Johnson. Meyer’s eclectic
collection included paintings by Monet, Chagall and Picasso, sculptures,
18th Century French furniture, and original music scores.
72
The porcelain 18th Century « Un pot-pourri de Saxe peints de sujets de Watteau, garni en bronze doré d’or
moulu pour 120 livres »
Height: 42 cm. (16 ½ in.) Width: 24 cm. (9 ½ in.) (A Meissen potpourri painted with Watteau subjects, embellished with gilt
Width of base: 19 cm. (7 ½ in.) Depth of base: 18 cm. (7 in.) bronze, for 120 pounds)
Each porcelain vase decorated with pastoral scenes (fêtes galantes) after followed on 3 June 1752 for the library of her château de Crécy:
Watteau and Pater
« Quatre vases égaux de porcelaine de Saxe à fleurs de relief, avec des
PROVENANCE cartouches de miniatures, montés en bronze doré d’or moulu, à 475 livres,
Collection of André Meyer (1898-1979), New York, and thence by 1900 livres
descent. Un autre vase, même porcelaine, 520 livres »
Christie’s New York, 27 May 1999, lot 230 (“Four vases equally of Meissen porcelain with floral reliefs and cartouches
Maurice Ségoura, Paris containing miniatures, mounted in gilt bronze, at 475 pounds [each,
totalling] 1900 pounds
EXHIBITED Another vase, in the same porcelain, 520 pounds”)
Splendeur du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Maurice Ségoura, September 1999.
A set of four white vases decorated with similar scenes is in the Quirinal
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE Palace in Rome (illustrated in González-Palacios, op. cit., no. 73). These
P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, were previously in the Ducal Palace at Parma and formed part of the
vol. III, pp. 1353-1361, no. 278. Parisian purchases brought to Parma by Madame Infante, Louis XV’s
A. González-Palacios, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale: gli arredi francesi, eldest daughter, in 1749.
Rome, 1996, pp. 276-278, no. 73.
F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, pp. 474- Vases of this type with Maiblumen decoration and with similar mounts and
475, nos. 267 A-B. scenes after Watteau are found in many public and private collections:
Vases of this form were produced at Meissen exclusively for mounting by • A pair of ewers in the Wallace Collection, London (invs. F103-4;
French marchand-merciers as in each case the porcelain is intact and not illustrated in Hughes, op. cit., no. 278).
cut down or adapted which is often the case with Asian ceramics. Virtually
all the surviving examples have similar elaborate rococo gilt bronze • A pair of potpourri vases in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (invs.
mounts, indicating they were likely specific requests by the marchand- 1944.229.1-2)
merciers to the Meissen factory.
• A pair of potpourri vases struck with the crowned ‘C’ poinçon in
They proved to be enormously popular with an elite Parisian clientele; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (invs. 1974.353.1-2,
examples are documented amongst the collections assembled by the illustrated in Watson, op. cit., nos. 267 A-B)
court banker Nicolas Beaujon and Louis XV’s maîtresse-en-titre Madame
de Pompadour. Lazare Duvaux’s celebrated Livre-Journal records a sale of The fête galante scenes on these particular ewers include some taken from
these types of Meissen vases to her on 1 September 1750: known paintings by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Jean-Baptiste
Pater (1695-1736). Painted decoration after Watteau was first used at the
Meissen manufactory in 1738 and the factory later purchased engravings
after the French artist to provide designs for its decorators (Hughes, op.
cit., p. 1360). The depiction of four figures playing a game is based on
Pater’s Le colin-maillard (Blind Man’s Buff) in the Wallace Collection (inv.
P400 and illustrated in F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris, 1928, p. 109,
ill. 295). The girl on a swing surrounded by several other figures is after
a lost Watteau entitled Les Agréments de l’été, which was engraved by
Joullain in 1732 (illustrated in E. Camesasca, The Complete Paintings of
Watteau, New York, 1968, p. 125, 2w; the original painting belonged to
the parliamentary councillor Claude Glucq in Paris).
André Meyer was a French-born investment banker who emigrated to the
United States following the Nazi occupation. Called “the most creative
financial genius of our time” by David Rockefeller, he was also known as
“the Picasso of banking” due to the innovative financing techniques he
introduced to post-War American business. His influence was such that
he advised the Kennedy family and President Johnson. Meyer’s eclectic
collection included paintings by Monet, Chagall and Picasso, sculptures,
18th Century French furniture, and original music scores.
72
