Estimate

20.000 - 30.000

Session 1

20 July 2026

Hammer Price

Description

France, Sèvres, circa 1815

Each of oviform body with two upright loop handles, tall neck and broad everted rim

The body decorated with a lozenge pattern in purple-red enclosing small cameos in white and grisaille, painted by Joseph Bodson, depicting symbols of the Arts, Sciences and Nature, including lyres, vases, birds, columns, lanterns, anchors and other attributes, arranged within a white-ground network with grisaille trelliswork of stylised leaves and flowers

The neck painted in trompe-l'oeil with a sequence of vertical faux gadroons in shades of purple, enclosing pendant bell-flowers, below a frieze of red festoons

The lower portion decorated with a frieze of stylised acanthus leaves alternating with lotus, above a green border

The handles, rim and foot entirely gilt

Incised marks "DC", probably for the tourneur Charles-Louis Descoins, and "LE", probably for the répareur Jean-Charles Leguillier

(signs of use and wear to the gilding)

Height: 23 cm

Additional Information

Note:

The present pair of vases was previously sold at Christie's, New York, in the sale "Dalva Brothers: Parisian Taste in New York", lot 179, where it was catalogued as "A pair of Sèvres porcelain two-handled vases (vases 'carafe étrusque', 3ème grandeur), circa 1815, the cameo painting by J. Bodson". The Christie's entry records that these vases are listed in the Sèvres sales records on 23 March 1815 as "2 Vases carafe Et[rusque] 3e decor mosaique entier avec petits camees p[ar] Bodson", at 206 livres each, or 412 livres the pair.

For a drawing by Bodson with related decoration, see the design for a cup and saucer preserved at Sèvres - Cité de la céramique, inv. 2011.3.1013, described as a drawing of form and decoration, with a lozenge pattern, trophies and musical instruments in grisaille on a purple-red ground.

Provenance:
The Estate of the Late Giuseppe Rossi; Sotheby's, London, 10-12 March 1999, vol. IV, lot 553.

Christie's, New York, "Dalva Brothers: Parisian Taste in New York", 22 October 2020, lot 179.

Exhibitions:
Long Island, New York, Nassau County Museum, "Napoleon and his Age", 28 January - 29 April 2001.