Pair of Mounted Vases
The French gilt-bronze mounts were almost certainly designed specially for the base and handles of this Chinese porcelain vase and not adapted from a pre-existing repertoire of decorative elements, as was often the case. The heavy asymmetrical scrolls are related to work done around 1755−60 by Jean-Claude Duplessis, an Italian sculptor, designer, goldsmith, ceramics modeler, and bronze maker working in France. Duplessis served as artistic director of the Vincennes-Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory from 1748 until his death in 1774 and became orfèvre du roi (royal goldsmith) in 1758. He was also directly involved in creating bronze mounts for Chinese porcelain for Lazare Duvaux, the most prominent marchand-mercier in Paris in the 1740s and 1750s.
Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.
Marquês da Foz, Lisbon. Henry M.W. Oppenheim, London. His sale, Christie’s, London, June 10–17, 1913, Lot 65. Duveen, 1913. Frick, 1915.
Source: Furniture in The Frick Collection: French 18th- & 19th-Century Furniture (Pt. 2) & Gilt Bronzes. Volume VI. New York: The Frick Collection, 1992.
