Similarly to the successive lot in this sale, this pair of urns was possibly originally part of a deser, or surtout de table, and was intended to be used as dining table decoration. Their design and the materials used relate these urns to the oeuvre of the Valadier workshop, particularly to that of Giuseppe Valadier (1762-1839). In 1785 he took over the workshop from his more celebrated father, Luigi Valadier, who hailed from a dynasty of silversmith and bronze-founders in Rome, establishing a famous workshop on via del Babuino. Giuseppe enthusiastically ran the practice, supplying works of art to Pope Pius VI, Duke Luigi Braschi Onesti and Prince Camillo Borghese, but after 1810 architectural commissions took precedence and the business was finally taken over by Pietro Paolo Spagna in 1827. The Neoclassical enrichments to this lot, such as the lions' heads, laurel swags, and medallions, all of which are all set in contrast against the rich marbles and hardstones of various types and colors, are leitmotifs pointing towards the cool classicism favored by the Valadier workshop, particularly under Giuseppe's direction. For a pair of urn-form candelabra by the Valadier atelier incorporating white, alabaster and ormolu lion masks, see Sotheby's, London, 10 June 1998, lot 64. The Valadiers are known to have produced urns similar to these candelabra and our lot as seen in a design by their workshop and now preserved in the Gabinetto Comunale delle Stampe, Rome. A pair of white marble and green porphyry vases by the Valadier workshop with almost identical lion masks was sold from the collection of Peter Zervudachi, Sotheby's, London, 10-11 June 1998, lot 302. These lion masks can be found on a pair of cache pots, most likely also by the Valadiers, see Sotheby's, London 13 December 1996, lot 147.