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Style of SÈVRES (worked from c.1756) - Receive artist alerts » - More items from this artist »
A Magnificent Pair of Sèvres Style Porcelain Vases and Covers With Exhibition Quality Bronze Mounts and Gilding With Painted Panels Depicting Classical Scenes from the Illiad (c. 1860 France)
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Medium
Porcelain, Gilt-Bronze
Signed/Inscribed/DatedThe porcelain panels signed ‘LEBER’.
Dimensions58.00cm wide 136.00cm high 40.00cm deep (22.83 inches wide 53.54 inches high 15.75 inches deep)
Description / Expertise
A Magnificent Pair of Sèvres Style Porcelain Vases and Covers With Exhibition Quality Bronze Mounts and Gilding With Painted Panels Depicting Classical Scenes from the Illiad.
Each vase is of ovoid form and finely painted with classical scenes from the Illiad to the front and a naturalistic scene to the reverse. The painted scenes are contained within finely tooled and burnished foliate gilded reserves.
The vases depict two famous scenes from Homers epic poem the Illiad , the scenes are inscribed 'Separation D'Achille Et Briseis' and 'Le Depart D’ Hector' and signed ‘LEBER’.
The main body of each vase is surmounted by a spiral twisted trumpet shaped neck and a conforming cover with an acorn finial. The shoulders of each vase are mounted with finely cast gilt-bronze acanthus handles. The vase is supported by a spiral twisted spreading foot put down on an exceptional gilt bronze base. The base is finely cast with a foliate guilloche running border framed by exuberant swags and ribbons.
The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory was founded to the east of Paris in the disused Royal château of Vincennes, late in 1739-40. It was not until 1756 that it moved to the village of Sèvres, west of Paris, en route to King Louis XV's palace of Versailles. Here it was also adjacent to Louis's mistress Madame de Pompadour’s own château at Bellevue. She was delighted with the factory's new location - as she knew she could entice Louis to take a greater interest in it when it was so near their own residences. Indeed, the King became such a keen patron of the factory that, when it ran into financial difficulties, he bought out the shareholders and became the sole proprietor. The factory remained a royal enterprise until the French Revolution, when it was nationalised. It is still in production today.
