Coco Li
Cataloguer / Sale Coordinator, Chinese Works of Art
Lot 7W
A PAIR OF FINE ORMOLU AND PORPHYRY-MOUNTED CELADON-GLAZED GARDEN SEATS WITH UNICORN BEASTS ATOP The garden seats probably Kangxi, the unicorn beasts Qianlong, the French mounts probably first half 19th century
14 December 2023, 17:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$114,800 inc. premium
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Dessa Goddard
Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group
Michael Hughes
Vice President and Head of Department
I-Hsuan Chen
Senior Specialist
A PAIR OF FINE ORMOLU AND PORPHYRY-MOUNTED CELADON-GLAZED GARDEN SEATS WITH UNICORN BEASTS ATOP
The garden seats probably Kangxi, the unicorn beasts Qianlong, the French mounts probably first half 19th century
The slender barrel-form seats molded below the rims and above the feet with a wide band of raised bosses, all under a soft celadon green glaze and mounted around their centers with a very finely cast ormolu with two large lion masks forming pseudo-handles and divided by lion-skin swags with hanging paws, the seats mounted below with a purple porphyry shaped-circular base with four ormolu female-headed sphinxes.
33 3/4in (85.7cm) overall high of each (2).
The slender barrel-form seats molded below the rims and above the feet with a wide band of raised bosses, all under a soft celadon green glaze and mounted around their centers with a very finely cast ormolu with two large lion masks forming pseudo-handles and divided by lion-skin swags with hanging paws, the seats mounted below with a purple porphyry shaped-circular base with four ormolu female-headed sphinxes.
33 3/4in (85.7cm) overall high of each (2).
Footnotes
或為康熙 青瓷鼓形凳一對 裝乾隆時期粉彩瑞獸 法國鎏金座或為十九世紀初
These magnificent gilt-bronze mounted garden seats reflect the 18th century trend in Paris, when clever and highly creative marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux saw the opportunity of embellishing finely-modeled Chinese figures and vessels by dressing them up with the most precious bronzes d'ameublement designed by famous ornemanistes while the marchands-merciers coordinated the production by the best bronziers-ciseleurs-doreurs of the time such as Caffieri and Gouthière.
The mid-18th century marchands-merciers, often called 'sellers of everything, makers of nothing' were indeed authorized to enhance and embellish existing works of art, and the request was endless. The increasing trade with China and Japan during the second half of the 17th century translated by the growing fascination of anything in 'Chinoiserie' style which gradually shaped the taste of decorative interiors not only in France but all over Europe and beyond. The most fascinating creations were produced in the 1770's and 1780's and ended up in Royal Houses and in the most prestigious collections.
Towards the second half of the 19th century, a revival for the style of the Ancien Régime surged in Paris. Under Napoléon III, and towards the third quarter of the 19th century, there was suddenly a new demand for these incredible mounted pieces. The celebrated bronzier Henry Dasson (d.1896) was for example specialized in reproducing a wide range of furniture and objets d'art of the highest quality in the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI style. Interestingly, the 1894 sale of his remaining stock included no less than thirty-one lots of ormolu-mounted Celadon Gris, Celadon Vert d'eau and Celadon Turquoise Truité, signifying that the combination of oriental porcelain and particularly celadon with contemporary mounts, much in the tradition of the 18th century marchands-merciers was still a very important element of Dasson's oeuvre and production.
Our celadon garden stools reinterpreted in uniquely highly decorative objets d'art, include great quality mounts as draped fabric to the top, powerful lion masks and pelts after Hercules Nemean lion, and very reminiscent of the almost identical Jean Dulac designed ormolu mounts for his popular Sèvres vases-cloches, of which a celebrated example sold from the Marquess Cholmondeley Collection, Houghton sale, Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 83, while the sphinx-modeled bases of our decorative objects, on magnificent porphyry socles are more reminiscent of the Louis XIV style bases for early ormolu girandoles.
For a pair of almost identical ceramic models of similar fantastical beasts (that surmount our stools), though of slightly varying glaze colors, see Christie's New York, 20-21 March 1997, lot 419, and formerly in the Wrightsman Collection, and also another pair, also dated to the Qianlong period, see Sotheby's London, 10-13 May 1988, lot 183.
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