拍品专文
Appointed marchand privilégié du Roi on 16 May 1753, Jean Dulac appears consistently in the sales register at Sèvres from 1758-1776. He acquired the majority of the production of this model, known as vases-cloches, mainly between 1772 and 1779, at prices varying from 60 to 84 livres, dependent on the ground colour - the fond lapis being far more expensive than the green. By 1774, however, Jean Dulac had sold to his successor
'Les droits vente par commission des porcelaines de la Manufacture de Sèvres dont il tient dépôt'
Several vases-cloches are recorded at that time, predominantly of
Sèvres porcelain, some mounted with gilt-bronze and others decorated with a landscape on a green-ground or with roses.
It seems that Dulac's vases were often conceived as amusing mechanical gifts. In 1767 Dulac produced a 'pot pourri chinois auquel on adapté un petit orgue qui lui sert de soubassement'. A related vase, possibly originally supplied to Madame de Pompadour and now at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, conceals a reduction in silver of the equestrian statue of Louis XV that had just been unveiled in the place de le Concorde. This vase, mounted with satyr handles, is signed under the lid 'Dulac Md rue St. Honoré Invenit'.
A pair of vases with lion-mask handles of the same model as this vase was delivered to the King of Poland for his use at the Lazienski Palace, Warsaw. They are similarly signed 'DULAC MD. RUE ST. HONORE A PARIS INVENIT' (illustrated in P. Verlet, 'Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle', Paris, 1987, pp. 72-3, figs. 66-7).
This second type, with its characteristic lion-mask handles, often contained pop-up candelabra, which elevated themselves once the covers were removed, such as those sold from the collection of H.M.W. Oppenheim in these Rooms, 10 June 1913, lot 76.
Before 1774, Madame du Barry either bought or asked for a pair of this model, which retain their candelabra fittings and are now conserved at the château de Fontainebleau (P. Verlet, op.cit., fig. 236), while the duc de la Vrillière possessed a further pair, valued at 800 livres in 1777.
While it is certain that Jean Dulac created this type of vases, as his use of the word invenit confirms, it is interesting to note that the Manufacture de Sèvres had the right to sell them directly. This fact is confirmed by the two vases-cloches at the Palace of Pavlosk, which were acquired directly from Sèvres in 1782 through the intermediary Prince Baryatinski for the sum of 1680 livres. Recorded in the chambre à coucher and then in the cabinet de travail of Grand Duke Paul's appartments, they comprise a garniture with a third pot-pourri vase of identical model (illustrated in A. de Gourcuff, Pavlosk 'The Collections', II, Paris, 1993, p. 150, fig. 20)
The attribution of this group to Dulac is again confirmed by Horace Walpole's visit to Madame Dulac in the autumn of 1765. Walpole acquired, amongst other things, three closely related vases mounted with satyr-masks for his friend John Chute of the Vyne, Hampshire, at a cost of 19 guineas. This model obviously found favour with the English cognoscenti, as there are a number recorded in English collections. Among those sold in these Rooms are a pair from the collection of the Earl of Stair, inherited by marriage from the duc de Coigny (1737-1821), maréchal of France and confident of both Louis XV and Louis XVI (6 April 1978, lot 50), a pair with apple-green porcelain bodies from the collection of the Earl of Swinton (4 December 1975, lot 51, see lot 222), and a pair from sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, 8 December 1994, lot 83.
'Les droits vente par commission des porcelaines de la Manufacture de Sèvres dont il tient dépôt'
Several vases-cloches are recorded at that time, predominantly of
Sèvres porcelain, some mounted with gilt-bronze and others decorated with a landscape on a green-ground or with roses.
It seems that Dulac's vases were often conceived as amusing mechanical gifts. In 1767 Dulac produced a 'pot pourri chinois auquel on adapté un petit orgue qui lui sert de soubassement'. A related vase, possibly originally supplied to Madame de Pompadour and now at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, conceals a reduction in silver of the equestrian statue of Louis XV that had just been unveiled in the place de le Concorde. This vase, mounted with satyr handles, is signed under the lid 'Dulac Md rue St. Honoré Invenit'.
A pair of vases with lion-mask handles of the same model as this vase was delivered to the King of Poland for his use at the Lazienski Palace, Warsaw. They are similarly signed 'DULAC MD. RUE ST. HONORE A PARIS INVENIT' (illustrated in P. Verlet, 'Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle', Paris, 1987, pp. 72-3, figs. 66-7).
This second type, with its characteristic lion-mask handles, often contained pop-up candelabra, which elevated themselves once the covers were removed, such as those sold from the collection of H.M.W. Oppenheim in these Rooms, 10 June 1913, lot 76.
Before 1774, Madame du Barry either bought or asked for a pair of this model, which retain their candelabra fittings and are now conserved at the château de Fontainebleau (P. Verlet, op.cit., fig. 236), while the duc de la Vrillière possessed a further pair, valued at 800 livres in 1777.
While it is certain that Jean Dulac created this type of vases, as his use of the word invenit confirms, it is interesting to note that the Manufacture de Sèvres had the right to sell them directly. This fact is confirmed by the two vases-cloches at the Palace of Pavlosk, which were acquired directly from Sèvres in 1782 through the intermediary Prince Baryatinski for the sum of 1680 livres. Recorded in the chambre à coucher and then in the cabinet de travail of Grand Duke Paul's appartments, they comprise a garniture with a third pot-pourri vase of identical model (illustrated in A. de Gourcuff, Pavlosk 'The Collections', II, Paris, 1993, p. 150, fig. 20)
The attribution of this group to Dulac is again confirmed by Horace Walpole's visit to Madame Dulac in the autumn of 1765. Walpole acquired, amongst other things, three closely related vases mounted with satyr-masks for his friend John Chute of the Vyne, Hampshire, at a cost of 19 guineas. This model obviously found favour with the English cognoscenti, as there are a number recorded in English collections. Among those sold in these Rooms are a pair from the collection of the Earl of Stair, inherited by marriage from the duc de Coigny (1737-1821), maréchal of France and confident of both Louis XV and Louis XVI (6 April 1978, lot 50), a pair with apple-green porcelain bodies from the collection of the Earl of Swinton (4 December 1975, lot 51, see lot 222), and a pair from sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, 8 December 1994, lot 83.