Estimate

15.000 - 18.000

Session 1

16 December 2024

Hammer Price

Description

Attributed to André-Vincent Vieillard (1717–1790)
Soft-paste porcelain from the Manufacture Nationale de Vincennes
Of oval form, moulded with two leaf-shaped handles, and decorated with two polychrome reserves on a bleu lapis ground, framed by gilt Rococo cartouches richly adorned with flowers, scrolls, and rocaille motifs
One reserve depicts a pastoral scene with two children harvesting grapes, while the other shows a riverside landscape with figures and a building set within a rural setting. The rim is decorated with a gilt sawtooth border
Marked on the base with interlaced “LL” initials and the date letter “C” for 1755, accompanied by a painter’s mark, attributed to André-Vincent Vieillard, consisting of two blue dots, and two incised marks: a “D” and an “L” with two horizontal strokes
France, 1755
(slight wear to the gilding)

12,5x32x14 cm

Category

Porcelain

Additional Information

The Vincennes Manufactory and André-Vincent Vieillard’s Cuvettes à Fleurs

The Manufacture Nationale de Vincennes, predecessor to the renowned Manufacture Royale de Sèvres, excelled in producing soft-paste porcelain of exceptional quality during the 18th century. Among its most refined creations are the elegant Cuvettes à Fleurs, oval flower vases that combined purity of form with rich pictorial decoration.
The present piece is a remarkable example of this model, executed in 1755 and attributed to the painter André-Vincent Vieillard (1717–1790), one of the manufactory’s most prolific and celebrated artists. Vieillard, who worked at Vincennes and later at Sèvres between 1752 and 1790, was particularly esteemed for the delicacy of his landscapes and mastery in depicting figures (Whitehead, 1998, p. 41).
His distinctive mark, consisting of a line accompanied by dots, is documented in Carl Christian Dauterman’s reference work on 18th-century Sèvres marks (Dauterman, 1986, p. 154). A very similar example, also painted by Vieillard, is part of the collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, having been gifted by the manufactory to Madame de Courteille (Séret, 2014, p. 84).
The bleu lapis ground, with its extraordinary chromatic depth, served as the perfect backdrop for the painted reserves, where Vieillard demonstrated his full mastery in portraying bucolic scenes and landscapes. The gilt Rococo cartouches, with their intricate ornamental complexity, showcase the technical virtuosity achieved by Vincennes artisans during this period.

Literature:
DAUTERMAN, Carl Christian - Sèvres Porcelain: Makers and Marks of the Eighteenth Century. Nova Iorque: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.
SÉRET, Guillaume - "Une nouvelle cuvette à fleurs rejoint la collection de porcelaines de Sèvres". Revue de la Société des Amis du Musée National de Céramique, nº23, 2014, pp. 84-92.
WHITEHEAD, John - "Les cuvettes à fleurs unies en porcelaine de Vincennes-Sèvres". Sèvres, nº7, 1998, pp. 41-50.