THE FORM
The vase ‘à tête d’elephant’ was created in 1756 by the designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père and was among several new shapes introduced that year, perhaps to mark the factory’s long awaited move from Vincennes to Sèvres. The bottle-shaped vase form is distinguished by a sculpted elephant’s head on each side, its trunk extending to support a double candleholder. The shape was made in two versions: shape A (as classified by Rosalind Savill) appears from 1756 and shape B, distinguished by a small loop handle below each elephant trunk, beading which loops through the handles and across the elephants’ heads with a beaded pendant on the forehead of each elephant, was introduced in 1757. The latter version, of which our vase is an example, was produced in three sizes, with the 1st size appearing in 1757, the 2nd size in 1758 (specifically requested in the smaller size and with single candleholders by Madame de Pompadour), and the 3rd from 1760.1
The distinctive elephant-head modeling may have been inspired by a Chinese or Meissen prototype. However, as Rosalind Savill has noted, ‘The design also suggests that Duplessis was aware of the fifth volume of Diderot’s Encyclopédie (published in 1755), where the post mortem of Louis XIV’s elephant that had died at Versailles in 1681 appeared’. It records that its trunk ‘swelled like the neck of a vase’ and indeed, the flared neck of the Sèvres vase has undulating layers which look like the folds of skin at the tip of an elephant’s trunk.2 The production of this new vase shape represented a complex technical challenge for the factory as the trunks tended to sag in the kiln firing, a problem that was solved with the addition of the two small handles below the trunks to provide support, although even then the construction remained fragile and only two examples retain their original candle holders, which were vulnerable to breakages. Production probably ceased in the late 1760s, but was reintroduced in the nineteenth century, with its enduring popularity reflected by the fact that the form was copied by Minton, Coalport, Herend and probably also at Samson.
The Sales Registers indicate that elephant-head vases were often sold as parts of garnitures or sets of vases, combined with a variety of other vase models. The shape quickly found favor with the French court and examples were purchased by Louis XV (in 1760) and the prince de Condé (in 1758). Madame de Pompadour bought four of the thirteen examples sold in her lifetime.3 She was probably the cash buyer in 1759 of a garniture that included a vase ‘pot pourri gondole’ and a pair of vases ‘à tête d’elephant’ of the 1st size with green ground and children (costing 960 livres and 720 livres each respectively), as on her death her inventory records ‘Deux vases a teste d’éléphant de porcelain de France, mignature, fond verd avec les bobèches’ in the Hôtel de Pompadour in Paris.4 Another green ground example of the 1st size with unspecified decoration was sold to Madame Lair for 480 livresin 1760 (Sales Registers 1 July 1760 – 1 January 1761, f.36r).
The green ground color was introduced commercially at the factory in 1756 and on the present lot is notable for a bluish tone and slight translucency, indicative of a production date in the late 1750s. The putto scenes, delicately painted in the manner of François Boucher, the green ground and the flower painting are notably similar to that of a pair in the Wallace Collection (museum nos. C249, C250). The flower painting bears some stylistic similarities with work executed by Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand, le jeune, who was active at the factory from 1746 to 1788.
Relatively few vases ‘à tête d’elephant’ vases were produced at Sèvres, probably due to the sculptural complexity of the model, which would have been expensive to produce. Surviving examples include a green-ground pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (museum nos. 1983.185.10, .11), given by Charles and Jayne Wrightsman, with very closely related decoration to that of the present lot, and four further examples with varying decoration also in the Metropolitan (museum nos. 1976.155.61 [a single]; 58.75.90a, b and 58.75.91a, b [a pair]; and 1983.185.9 [a single]). Further examples are held at the Art Institute of Chicago (museum no. 1986.3446) and the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (museum no. VO.34 48.1796, 48.1797). The Wallace Collection, London has two pairs, the aforementioned (C249, C250) and another green ground pair (museum nos. C246 and C247). A further six examples are at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
It is difficult to identify our vase in the archives at Sèvres as it does not bear a date letter to signify the year of production. However, it is interesting to note that it would have originally had a porcelain base with four scroll feet which has been replaced in the 19th century with an ormolu mount. A possible explanation is that the base of the vase was severely damaged during painting at the manufactory and the decoration then abandoned, thus accounting for the pale tones of the figural putti scenes. This hypothesis is strengthened by the gilding, which appears later, both technically and stylistically and on this vase lacks the gilt flower garlands usually framing the figural reserves on the green ground. This would suggest that the gilding was added and fired at the same time as the ormolu base was designed and fitted, in order to save a splendid but damaged major work of art.
Vases ‘à tête d’elephant’, are extremely rare models, and the present vase is the only one to appear on the market in many years. With its extraordinary and ambitious form, newly-created green ground color and fine painted decoration, it combines all the elements that were to bring the Sèvres factory to the forefront of porcelain production in France and the rest of Europe by the late 1750s. Despite its decoration being halted in its nascent state, this vase remains a rarity, prized by a Marchioness and the Rothschild family, and a splendid testimony to the genius of 18th century Sèvres artists and the remarkable innovation of the Sèvres factory.
THE PROVENANCE
Cécile de Rothschild (1913-1995), daughter of Robert (1880-1846) and Nelly (1886-1945), lived on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, and in a house near Laversine. She inherited many Rothschild passions, including motoring, wine, sailing, gardening and painting. Cézanne's Les Baigneuses, given to her by her father when she was only thirteen, was to form the basis of a significant art collection. She was a great friend and protector of the actress Greta Garbo.
1. See Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. I, pp.154-162 for a detailed discussion of the history of the form.
2. See Rosalind Savill, Everyday Rococo: Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, vol. I, Norwich, 2021, p. 554 for further discussion of the form and its inspiration.
3. Savill, ibid., Norwich, 2021, vol. I, p. 554.
4. Savill, op.cit., London, 1988, vol. I, p. 171 and p. 172, note 29.