Dalva Brothers Antiques, Antique Furniture, New York

French 18th century furniture, clocks, lighting, paintings, porcelain, sculpture and tapestries

Sèvres lilac and burgos ground vase fuseau (troisième grandeur) with floral reserves. The tall narrow vase, made in three pieces, is painted in pale purple (fond lilas) on the central portion and iridescent purple (fond burgos) on the top and base portions of the vase. The central portion has two superbly painted floral reserves on white ground and decorative motifs, including two cornucopiae, in dark purple with gilded highlighting on the lilas ground.

On page 174 of The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Alexandre Brogniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry by Tamara Préaud et al., a watercolor by Charles-Eloi Asselin shows another purple ground vase with identical dark purple decorative motifs and cornucopiae but with a neoclassical figure in the reserve. Like all the known versions, the central portion has a differing glaze than the top and base portions. A pair of vases in the Grand Trianon, made for the bedroom of Pauline Borghese, was delivered in 1805. Another pair was delivered to Compiègne in 1806. The present vase is probably one of the pair described as 2 vases fuseau fond lilas et burgos bouquets de fleurs and sold at the Sèvres salesroom in 1804 with the following payment records per vase:

Gilding (Charles-Marie Pierre Boitel)                  12 francs

Flowers (Jacques-Nicolas Sinsson)                     32 francs

Lilas ground (Godin l’ainé)                                18 francs

Burgos ground                                                     3 francs