Conceived in the grandest manner and recalling the 18th century fascination with oriental works of art, these spectacular Kangxi period celadon vases with their ormolu mounts reflect the longstanding excellence of French craftsmen in the art of gilt bronze. While the base and bacchic putti handles embody neoclassical motifs, the waterfall rims subtly allude to the Chinese landscapes depicted on the body of the vases.

The porcelain bodies of these vases are almost identically decorated to the pair of Louis XV ormolu-mounted Kangxi porcelain ewers in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Differently mounted but displaying a very close composition of deers and flowering trees in underglazed copper red and blue on a similar pale grey-green celadon ground, they are illustrated in F.J.B. Watson and G.Wilson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, pp. 48-49. A further pair of ormolu-mounted celadon vases with related porcelain decoration were sold from the former collection of Gregory de Ligne, Christie's, London, 5 July 2012, lot 11.