Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 144
A monumental Sèvres vase (vase de Nîmes), exhibited at the Exposition Universelle 1889, dated 1888
3 July 2025, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£80,000 - £120,000
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
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
Ghislaine Howard
Sale Coordinator
A monumental Sèvres vase (vase de Nîmes), exhibited at the Exposition Universelle 1889, dated 1888
Of ovoid shape with a flared trumpet neck and thinly tapered base resting on a gilt bronze base, the vase decorated with blue and yellow birds in flight and resting on branches of honeysuckle, holly, and pine on a nebulous aquamarine ground, signed and dated "BELET / 1888" to foot, the neck decorated with a band of stylised blue and gold volutes and pine branches, with a band of stylised floral motifs in shades of blue and gold to the rim, 198cm high (including wooden stand) the ormolu mounted porcelain 147cm high, stamped "RF DECORE A SEVRES 88" in iron-red, various letters and numerals to the inside neck, (restoration to shoulder)
Footnotes
The "Vase de Nîmes" was first created at Sèvres by Jules-Pierre-Michel Diéterle in 1853, although it was soon updated to its present, more ovoid form in 1861, referred to in the archives as a "Vase de Nîmes rectifié."
The present vase appears in the factory registers of 28 February 1889 as "1 vase de Nîmes, fd.[sic] nuagé décoré de fleurs d'oiseaux et d'ornements en peinture sans couverte rehaussé d'or socle en bronze; pommes de pin, chèvrefeuille doré, ornt. Jardel." (Archives de Sèvres, Vf, 1er série, no.5, fol. 25 Vo). The decoration was executed by Émile Belet, active as a flower painter at the manufactory between 1876 and 1900. After being exhibited at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the vase was sold to a Mr. Mitjans in September 1892 for the considerable sum of 10,000 francs (AS, Vz15, 277 Vo).
Notable precursors to the present vase are in the collection at the Musée national de la céramique, Sèvres (inv. MNC 7523), formerly exhibited at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, as well as another presented to Tsar Nicolas II of Russia on the occasion of his state visit to France in 1896 (decorated by Horace Bieuville), now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. For more information on this gift, see N. Kazakevitch, "Le vase de Nîmes, cadeau de la France au tsar Nicolas II," L'Estampille / L'Objet d'art, n° 370, June 2002.
