The impressive warrior handles on these splendid vases are directly derived from the ‘bustes de guerriers antiques’ featuring as angle mounts on a series of celebrated bureaux plats by Charles Cressent (1685-1768), including those at Grimsthorpe Castle, the Elysée Palace and the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (see Pradère, op. cit., pp. 268-9, figs, 61-3). Cressent was famous among cabinet-makers for directly contravening the guild system and casting his own mounts, and his superb sculptural mounts are a key leitmotif of his oeuvre. It is therefore particularly interesting to note that Cressent is known to have produced gilt bronzes for mounted porcelains, for instance, lots 103-4 of the sale of his stock in 1757 which were described as ‘Deux magnifiques pots pourris de porcelaine, garnis de bronze, dorés d’or moulu, tant aux pieds qu’aux cornets’ (see Pradère, op. cit., p. 241).

THE BERWINDS AND THE ELMS
The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds engaged Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer to design a house modeled after the mid-18th century French château d'Asnières outside Paris. Construction of The Elms was completed in 1901 at a cost reported at approximately $1.4 million. The interiors and furnishings were designed by Allard and Sons of Paris and were the setting for the Berwinds' collection of European decorative arts and paintings. Mrs. Berwind died in 1922, and Mr. Berwind invited his sister, Julia, to become his hostess at his New York and Newport houses. Mr. Berwind died in 1936 and Miss Julia continued to summer at The Elms until her death in 1961, at which time the house and most of its contents were sold at public auction. The Preservation Society of Newport County purchased The Elms in 1962 and opened the house to the public.