Pair of covered Japanese porcelain vases with a celadon ground

The bodies are formed from gourd-shaped porcelain vases in grey-green “floral celadon.” The chased and gilt bronze mounts feature lids topped with seed-shaped finials. The openwork handles are highlighted with goat heads. The fluted bases are adorned with friezes of laurel leaves.
One need only consult 18th century auction catalogues and posthumous inventories to appreciate the extraordinary enthusiasm of collectors of the period for Oriental porcelain vases enhanced, in the rarest examples, with finely chased and gilt bronze mounts made by the most skilled Parisian bronziers of the time.
The pair of vases we present was created within this particular context. The vases were certainly imported through the Compagnie des Indes, then acquired by a prominent marchand-mercier, or luxury goods dealer, who considered their quality and form sufficiently unusual to invest in bronze mounts that could cost several hundred livres.
This decision was justified by the rarity of this green porcelain enhanced with red and blue branches, known as “floral celadon porcelain,” one of the most sought-after types among collectors during the second half of the 18th century.
The gilt bronze goat heads punctuating the composition of each vase were among the motifs most frequently employed by Parisian bronziers in decorative bronze mounts during the Neoclassical period.
Similar goat or ram heads can notably be found in the decoration of a pair of Japanese porcelain vases with a beige ground illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Objets montés du Moyen Age à nos jours, Les éditions de l'amateur, Paris, 2000, p. 119; and on a second pair, in Chinese porcelain with a blue ground, formerly in the Champalimaud collection (Christie's sale, London, July 7, 2005, lot 162).
Early Louis XVI period – circa 1775
Porcelain from the early 18th century
Condition consistent with age and use
Height: 33 cm × Width: 17 cm
Provenance:
Millon sale, Drouot, November 29, 2000, lot no. 227
Galerie Perrin