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1 of 253523 objects
Vase Chinois 1780
Hard paste porcelain, brick red ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze | 50.0 x 22.4 x 18.5 cm (parts .a and .b together) | RCIN 36075
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Known collectively as vases chinois, this three-piece garniture, with its brick-red ground and chinoiserie-themed reserves, would have appealed to George IV’s passion for jewel-like, colourful and exotic works of art. In 1818 they were sent to furnish Brighton Pavilion, which he was transforming into a ‘vision of Cathay’.
The principal reserve on the front and back of each vase contains figures taken from engravings by Gabriel Huquier (1695-1772) after Aléxis Peyrotte (1699-1769). The diminutive roundels and oval reserves on the neck and foot contain chinoiserie landscape scenes, which were copied from a series of engravings designed by Jean-Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808).
Paradoxically, they recall the early decoration on Vincennes porcelain, when the Meissen influence was predominant. In keeping with usual practice, the Sèvres artist has used the engravings with a greater or lesser degree of fidelity, occasionally picking out a detail, transposing another or reproducing with care the composition as a whole.
Text adapted from French Porcelain for English Palaces, Sèvres from the Royal Collection, London, 2009Provenance
Sent on approval for George IV’s ‘inspection and Choice’ by ‘Mr Lafountain,’ whose address was given in his invoice as No.41 rue Traversière, they were landed at Dover and were entered by Benjamin Jutsham in his Carlton House receipts’ ledger on 10 September 1818: ‘[From] the Custom House A Set, 2 Beakers & 1 Jar & Cover. Red ground & Gold. Painted in Figures in Compartments Or Molu Bases. The Beakers 15 Inches high; the Jar 20 Inches. Seve China’. The entry is annotated, ‘these articles are sent to Brighton’. By 1826 the garniture had been returned to Carlton House, when it was recorded in the Anti Room to the Dining Room, Basement Floor: ‘No 91. A Centre Vase of Scarlet and gold Seve Porcelain with Chinese Therm Handles, mounted in ormolu, painted in Chinese Figures and Subjects 20 In. high. No 92. A pair of Slender Jars of Scarlet and gold Seve Porcelain with Chimera handles and ormolu mountings, the painting in Chinese Figures and Subjects – 15 In high’.
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Creator(s)
(porcelain manufacturer)(place of production)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Hard paste porcelain, brick red ground, gilded decoration and gilt bronze
Measurements
50.0 x 22.4 x 18.5 cm (parts .a and .b together)
50 cm (Height) (with fittings)
Other number(s)
Laking PC : Laking, G.F., 1907. Sèvres Porcelain of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, London – Laking PC 282Alternative title(s)
Vase and cover
Place of Production
Sèvres [France]
