An Exceptional and Important Pair of Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Exhibition Quality Sèvres Style Cobalt Blue Porcelain Vases and Covers

Signed Lucot 

This exceptional pair of vases are of inverted ovoid form with finely painted Watteauesque panels depicting a game of dice and the taking of tea, each within a deep blue ground. The body is further embellished with tooled gilt foliate running pattern and arabesque. The neck of each vase is of flared trumpet form surmounted by domed lids with corresponding decoration and terminating in gilt acorn finials. Each vase is supported on a flared spreading foot and put down on gilt-bronze bases with re-entrant corners.

The reserves to the front of each vase contain finely painted panels depicting romantic genre scenes drawing inspiration from Watteau’s fêtes galantes and the pastoral paintings of Boucher, each is signed to the lower left Lucot.

In late 1739 – early 1740 the Sèvres Porcelain Factory opened in the Royal Château of Vincennes, Sixteen years later in 1756 the factory moved to the village of Sèvres located outside of Paris and in route to Louis XV’s Palace of Versailles where it became the preeminent porcelain manufacturer in Europe. When the company ran into financial difficulties, the King who had become an avid client bought out the shareholders and became the sole owner. The factory remained in the royal family until it was nationalized following the French Revolution.

The range of objects produced in the first half of the nineteenth century was enormous, as were the types of decoration that they employed. The Sèvres factory produced  ninety-two new designs for vases. The factory is still in production today.

Details:
Height – 55 inches / 140cm
Width – 16 inches / 41cm