Page 100 - Pascal Izarn catalogue 2024
P. 100
AIR OF LARGE GILT BRONZE-MOUNTED ROYAL VIENNA PORCELAIN COVERED VASES WITH
SCENES AFTER RUBENS’S DECIUS MUS CYCLE, SIGNED LEOPOLD LIEB AND DATED 1817
Underglaze blue Bindenschild device on one vase large size for Vienna porcelain, the
garniture might have been ordered by
Impressed marks 816 and 817 for 1816/1817 Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein (r.
1805-1806 and 1814-1836) to celebrate
Impressed white ware turner’s mark 25 one of the jewels of his art collection,
Peter Paul Rubens’s Decius Mus pictorial
Height: 82 cm. (32 ¼ in.) Width: 44 cm. (17 ¼ in.) Depth: 35 cm. (13 ¾ in.) cycle. Executed in 1616/17, this was
the first historical cycle undertaken by
The fields with a gilt background decorated with trophies of arms and Rubens and consists of eight large oils,
friezes of palmettes, fleurons and rosettes in matte and gloss. The gilt commissioned by an unnamed group of
bronze handles in the shape of snakes. Genoese merchants as cartoons for a
tapestry series of which over 20 sets are
PROVENANCE known (Baumstark, op. cit., nos. 210-217).
Possibly commissioned by Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein (1760-
1836) Each vase is painted with two scenes from
the cycle. The central vase (fig. 5) presents
One vase sold Christie’s London, 2 July 1990, lot 120 the two paintings that close the narrative:
the Death and Obsequies of Decius Mus.1
The other vase sold Sotheby’s Zurich, 5 December 1991, lot 259 One of the cycle’s remaining two paintings
was designed for entre-fenêtre tapestry and
With Galerie Aveline, Paris depicts Roman arms (fig. 6). Appropriately,
the vases’ side panels are likewise
Private Parisian collection decorated with martial trophies.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE THE DECIUS MUS CYCLE
R. Baumstark, ‘The Decius Mus Cycle’, in Liechtenstein. The Princely
Collections, exh. cat. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26 Oct 1985 Publius Decius Mus was a Roman consul
– 1 May 1986, B.D. Kelleher (ed.), New York, 1985, pp. 338ff., nos. 210- in 340 BC. Livy in book 8 of the History of
217. Rome tells of his sacrifice in battle through the ritual of devotio following
an oracular announcement received in a dream. The vases reproduce four
J. Kräftner (ed.), Der Fürst als Sammler: Neuerwerbungen unter Hans-Adam II. key moments in the narrative as painted by Rubens:
von und zu Liechtenstein, exh. cat., Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum, 12 Feb
– 24 Aug 2010, pp. 284-285. - Decius Mus announces his oracular dream to his troops (fig. 1)
- A soothsayer confirms Decius Mus’s fate through sacrificial ritual (fig.
This pair of large vases originally formed the flanking elements of a three-
part garniture with an even larger central vase en suite. Of exceptionally 2)
- Decius Mus undergoes the solemn rite of devotio (fig. 3)
- The Roman lictors (magistrates) are dispatched by Decius Mus to tell
his co-consul Titus Manlius that he has chosen to die for the good of
the army (fig. 4)
The original paintings were acquired by Prince Hans-Adam I of
Liechtenstein in 1693, who then commissioned sumptuous carved
cartouches for their frames from the sculptor Giovanni Giuliani. From
the moment of acquisition, they have always been considered one of the
glories of the Liechtenstein Princely Collections (Baumstark, op. cit., pp.
338-341).
THE VIENNA PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY
The Vienna hard-paste porcelain manufactory was founded in 1718, the
second in Europe after Meissen. By the beginning of the 19th century, the
manufacture had reached its apogee under the direction of Conrad von
Sorgenthal, producing wares in Neoclassical tase with Sèvres porcelain the
main influence. After attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Léopold Lieb
(1771-1836) was employed by Sorgenthal from 1800 as an enameller,
specializing primarily in history scenes until 1834.
The Liechtenstein Princely Collections also contains a Vienna porcelain
plaque depicting the soothsayer scene (Kräftner, op. cit., pp. 284-285; fig.
7), as well as a plate painted by Lieb after Wouwermans (inv. 2691).
1 Liechtenstein inventory nos. GE 51 and GE 52.
86
SCENES AFTER RUBENS’S DECIUS MUS CYCLE, SIGNED LEOPOLD LIEB AND DATED 1817
Underglaze blue Bindenschild device on one vase large size for Vienna porcelain, the
garniture might have been ordered by
Impressed marks 816 and 817 for 1816/1817 Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein (r.
1805-1806 and 1814-1836) to celebrate
Impressed white ware turner’s mark 25 one of the jewels of his art collection,
Peter Paul Rubens’s Decius Mus pictorial
Height: 82 cm. (32 ¼ in.) Width: 44 cm. (17 ¼ in.) Depth: 35 cm. (13 ¾ in.) cycle. Executed in 1616/17, this was
the first historical cycle undertaken by
The fields with a gilt background decorated with trophies of arms and Rubens and consists of eight large oils,
friezes of palmettes, fleurons and rosettes in matte and gloss. The gilt commissioned by an unnamed group of
bronze handles in the shape of snakes. Genoese merchants as cartoons for a
tapestry series of which over 20 sets are
PROVENANCE known (Baumstark, op. cit., nos. 210-217).
Possibly commissioned by Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein (1760-
1836) Each vase is painted with two scenes from
the cycle. The central vase (fig. 5) presents
One vase sold Christie’s London, 2 July 1990, lot 120 the two paintings that close the narrative:
the Death and Obsequies of Decius Mus.1
The other vase sold Sotheby’s Zurich, 5 December 1991, lot 259 One of the cycle’s remaining two paintings
was designed for entre-fenêtre tapestry and
With Galerie Aveline, Paris depicts Roman arms (fig. 6). Appropriately,
the vases’ side panels are likewise
Private Parisian collection decorated with martial trophies.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE THE DECIUS MUS CYCLE
R. Baumstark, ‘The Decius Mus Cycle’, in Liechtenstein. The Princely
Collections, exh. cat. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26 Oct 1985 Publius Decius Mus was a Roman consul
– 1 May 1986, B.D. Kelleher (ed.), New York, 1985, pp. 338ff., nos. 210- in 340 BC. Livy in book 8 of the History of
217. Rome tells of his sacrifice in battle through the ritual of devotio following
an oracular announcement received in a dream. The vases reproduce four
J. Kräftner (ed.), Der Fürst als Sammler: Neuerwerbungen unter Hans-Adam II. key moments in the narrative as painted by Rubens:
von und zu Liechtenstein, exh. cat., Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum, 12 Feb
– 24 Aug 2010, pp. 284-285. - Decius Mus announces his oracular dream to his troops (fig. 1)
- A soothsayer confirms Decius Mus’s fate through sacrificial ritual (fig.
This pair of large vases originally formed the flanking elements of a three-
part garniture with an even larger central vase en suite. Of exceptionally 2)
- Decius Mus undergoes the solemn rite of devotio (fig. 3)
- The Roman lictors (magistrates) are dispatched by Decius Mus to tell
his co-consul Titus Manlius that he has chosen to die for the good of
the army (fig. 4)
The original paintings were acquired by Prince Hans-Adam I of
Liechtenstein in 1693, who then commissioned sumptuous carved
cartouches for their frames from the sculptor Giovanni Giuliani. From
the moment of acquisition, they have always been considered one of the
glories of the Liechtenstein Princely Collections (Baumstark, op. cit., pp.
338-341).
THE VIENNA PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY
The Vienna hard-paste porcelain manufactory was founded in 1718, the
second in Europe after Meissen. By the beginning of the 19th century, the
manufacture had reached its apogee under the direction of Conrad von
Sorgenthal, producing wares in Neoclassical tase with Sèvres porcelain the
main influence. After attending the Academy of Fine Arts, Léopold Lieb
(1771-1836) was employed by Sorgenthal from 1800 as an enameller,
specializing primarily in history scenes until 1834.
The Liechtenstein Princely Collections also contains a Vienna porcelain
plaque depicting the soothsayer scene (Kräftner, op. cit., pp. 284-285; fig.
7), as well as a plate painted by Lieb after Wouwermans (inv. 2691).
1 Liechtenstein inventory nos. GE 51 and GE 52.
86
