THE PORCELAIN CIRCA 1758, BLUE INTERLACED L'S MARK ENCLOSING DATE LETTER E, PAINTER'S MARK FOR JEAN-LOUIS MARIN, THE VINCENNES AND OTHER FLOWERS ON LATER TOLE STEMS

Four entries from the Sèvres factory records for vases ‘Hollandois’ decorated with green ribbons exist circa 1757-1759; prices for pairs of the second size vary between 360 and 480 livres. They are 1) a pair bought by the marchand mercier Lazare Duvaux second half 1757 for 480 livres each [MNS Vy2 fo 48v]; 2) a pair bought for cash by an unknown buyer 14 September 1758, 480 livres each [MNS Vy2 fo 68v]; 3) a pair bought by Louis XV December 1758 for 360 livres each [MNS Vy2 fo 77v]. 4) a pair bought by Madame de Pompadour in December 1758 for 360 livres each to form a garniture with a larger example of same form (vase ‘Hollandois’, 1re grandeur) [MNS Vy2 fo 78r].

All known examples, with the exception of a garniture now in a private collection, are painted with putti in clouds holding military attributes and have virtually identical gilding on the ribbons to that of the present pair of vases. The aforementioned garniture, comprised of three vases with ungilded ribbons, was sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 20 October 2005, lot 161. Marked with date letter D, these are slightly more richly decorated with rope-twist decoration in place of the simple lacy gilt edging found on the others. The temptation is to attribute these as the only garniture recorded, that purchased by Mme. de Pompadour in December 1758.

However, a second garniture is known to which the present pair at one time belonged. Sold at auction as a set of three fan-shaped vases by Phillips in 1849 (R. Sneyd, Esq.) and Christie’s in 1867 (Sir Frederic Adair Roe, Bart.) where acquired by the noted collector the Earl of Dudley and sold at Christie’s in 1886 by his estate. At the time, the garniture was split into two lots. Lot 176 comprised a ‘pair’ of the first size included the central vase from the original garniture with another similar. Baron Schröder acquired it and subsequently sold it again by Christie’s in 1910 from his estate. Lot 177 comprised a pair of the second size – the present pair. The flowers on tole stems were added between 1963-- when unsuccessfully offered by Christie’s on behalf of Baron Elie de Rothschild-- and when sold a few years later by Rosenberg & Stiebel for him and acquired by Henry Ford II.
In the Mentmore sale, May 1977, lot 2134, a pair of vases ‘Hollandois’ of the second size with their metal liners, also with Rothschild provenance and marked with date letter E, were sold, and again sold Sotheby’s, 5 March 1985, lot 96. An outlier is the single example from the collection of Gilbert Lévy, sold Drouot, Paris, 23 November 1967, lot 105 and again two years later by Sotheby & Co., London, 3 June 1969, lot 106 where repurchased for £700 by Gilbert Lévy. Both catalogue entries note a date letter for 1774 which seems late for this decoration.

If one disregards the garniture purchased by Mme de Pompadour, three sales records remain that refer to the present pair of vases, the pair sold at Mentmore, and the single from the Gilbert Lévy collection which may well have originally been a pair– with no entries seeming to correspond to the single vase of the first size acquired by the Earl of Dudley. The question remains – which is which? But with virtually identical decoration, it seems an impossibility to confirm with certainty – although it would be nice to speculate that the present pair is that acquired by the King as part of a garniture similar to that acquired by Mme. de Pompadour.