Mounts in chiselled and gilt bronze: France, Louis XV period, circa 1750.
H. 31.5 cm. (12 ½ in.). Base: 12.6 x 11.8 cm. (5 x 4 5/8 in.)
Marks and inscriptions : Collection Jacques Guerlain, visible on a label also bearing the collector’s monogram, stuck under the base of each vase.
Provenance: possibly collection of the abbé Jean-Bernard Le Blanc (1707-1781), post-mortem auction in Paris, under the supervision of Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun (1748-1813), on 14th February 1781 and following days, lot n°. 117; collection of Jacques Emile Louis Joseph Dubois Chefdebien (1867-1940), in his private mansion located at 27 Avenue Bosquet, in the 7th arrondissement in Paris, auction in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Mr. Etienne Ader, 13th and 14th February 1941, lot n° 49; collection of Jacques Guerlain (1874-1963), in his apartment located near the parc Monceau, at 22, Rue Murillo, in the 8th arrondissement in Paris.
Literature: Stéphane Faniel (ed.), Le Dix-huitième Siècle Français, Collection Connaissance des Arts, Paris, 1956, p. 113, repr.
Literature on Duplessis Père: Geneviève Levallet, “Jean-Claude Duplessis, Orfèvre du Roi”, La Renaissance de l’Art Français et des Industries de Luxe, February 1922, p. 60-67; Pierre Ennès, Un défi au goût, 50 ans de création à la manufacture royale de Sèvres (1740-1793), catalogue of the exhibition held in the Louvre Museum from 20th March to 23rd June 1997, Paris, 1997, p. 26-39.
