Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Lot 209
A Vincennes silver-gilt-mounted bleu-lapis-ground jug, cover and basin, circa 1754
14 June 2017, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £18,750 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our European Ceramics specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
A Vincennes silver-gilt-mounted bleu-lapis-ground jug, cover and basin, circa 1754
Pot 'à l'eau tourné' et jatte ovale, of the first size, each reserved with two panels painted by François le Vavasseur with large flower sprays, enclosed by gilt reeds and flowers, the cover similarly decorated, the basin with gilt flower swags to the sides and a small sprays in the centre, the spout with gilt shell and scrollwork motif against a seeded ground, the handle with trailing gilt floral motif, gilt dentil borders to the rims, the (unmarked) silver-gilt mount with foliate thumbpiece, the jug and cover: 19cm high (excluding mount), 20.5cm high (including mount); the basin: 30.5cm across; 7cm high, interlaced LL monograms enclosing date letter A and painter's mark W in blue (small haircrack to rim, tip of cover restuck, tiny chips to tip of spout and tip of cover (2)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Sotheby's London, 9 February 1960 (£270);
Acquired by Newman & Newman, London, in the above sale on behalf of an English private collector;
Thence by descent to the present owner
Literature:
Ilustrated and discussed by Frank Davis in Country Life, vol. CXXVII, 24 March 1960, p. 617;
R. Savill, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, II (1988), p. 713, n. 30e
François le Vavasseur is recorded at Sèvres as a flower painter between 1753-70 and 1772-76.
Lazare Duvaux sold a silver-gilt-mounted pot à l'eau and basin to the Duchesse de Luxembourg in January 1755 for 288 livres. His journal states: 'Du 1er - Mme la Duchesse de Luxembourg: Un pot à l'eau garni de vermeil & sa jatte de lapis, à fleurs, 288l.' [a water jug mounted in gilt silver and its basin in lapis, of flowers]. The present lot matches that description perfectly, although he does not mention the size. It is also not clear from the Vincennes/Sèvres sale records, when Duvaux purchased the water jug and basin from the factory. Due to the absence of any other water jugs (and basins) of the first size with a lapis ground and flowers in the sale records and Duvaux's journal in 1754 or the first half of 1755, it does indeed seem possible that the present lot is the one purchased by Madeleine-Angélique de Neufville-Villeroy (1707-1787), Duchesse de Luxembourg.
