Stand for porcelain vase, of carved and oil-gilded pine and beech, with three panther monopodia around a central wrought-iron support, with a grey-veined Carrara marble top, probably England, probably 1807-50

Tripod stand for a large porcelain vase. The circular marble table top of grey-veined Carrara marble is supported by a central wrought iron barley-twist post attached to the triangular base and three carved wooden legs carved in the form of panther monopodia. The wood has been painted black and oil gilded.

This stand has been associated since at least 1833 with the Angouleme porcelain vase (309:1-1876) decorated with a grisaille band depicting the Rape of the Sabine women.

Diana Davis in her 2018 article (see reference below) has very thoroughly traced the known history of the vase and the stand. The vase seems to have been first recorded in England at an auction held by Francis Squibb in 1814, advertised in the Morning Post 26 April (the catalogue for the auction does not survive). The advertisement is not detailed, and mentioned only 'one vase of extraordinary magnitude, most inimitably pencilled from Roman History' from 'the manufacture of Messrs Dihl and Guerhard'. On 15 June 1816 it was offered for sale again by the auctioneer Harry Phillips, with a more detailed description, including mention of the decorator 'Le Gay' and the subject 'Rape of the Sabines'. In 1831, mention of 'the celebrated Angouleme vase' in the closing sale of the dealer Robert Fogg (1788-1830), advertised in January (again, no catalogue survives), may refer to this vase. By 1833 it was described by the writer George Frederick Prosser in Select Illustrations of Hampshire (London: J. & J. Arch and Carpenter & Son, 1834, unpaginated), as being in the dining room of Newton Valence Manor House, Alton, Hampshire, the home of Henry Chawner (1764-1851), a celebrated silversmith. There it was described as 'on a tripod'. Prosser described the tripod stand as having three wooden legs carved in the shape of panther monopodi, painted black and gilded - the form of the stand acquired by the V&A in 1876. This form would have been highly suitable to Chawner's bow-fronted villa, which he had built 'in the Grecian style' (according to Pevsner, from 1787) but by 1833 the Grecian style would have been already unfashionable and so the date of the stand is debateable. The tripod design relates to designs published by Thomas Hope in 1807 and relates to the pair of tripods in mahogany in the collections of the V&A (W.35&A-1946), but, although the carving of the panthers is competent, the overal design is awkward and appears somewhat makeshift, with the very irregular wrought-iron central support perhaps having been a second thought, when the stand proved insufficiently firm for the precious vase. Measurements of the stand are closer to imperial inches, suggesting that it was made in Britain rather than in France, which (at least in theory) was using metric measurements from at least the beginning of the 19th century. Whether it was made to show the vase at the sales in 1814 or 1816 is unknown, although the style would have been very suitable for that date; or the tripod may have been made closer to 1833.

Whether the stand dates from 1818 or 1833 remains unclear but the vase and its stand were sold together at Christie's on 11 June 1869, lot 26, from Chawner's effects. The stand at that time was described as a 'carved and gilt stand, with lions' heads and claw feet', a slightly slipshod description. The two pieces were bought by the dealer William Wareham for £95. It was sold to the Manchester cotton spinner, MP and philanthropist William Romaine Callender (1825-1876) and was shown at Ashburne House in Victoria Park, Manchester, and, from 1872, at Mauldreth Hall in Burnage, Manchester, a Greek revival viall built 1832-1840. On Callender's death in 1876 his collection was auctioned by Christie's 27-28 June 1876, lot 193, where teh 'gilt pedestal for ditto' was mentioned. The ensemble was bought for the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) through the dealer Thomas Miller Whitehead (1825-1897) for 155 guineas (£162. 15s.), which, with commission and transport costs amounted to £171. 8s. It was bought for the new ceramic galleries that had been opened in 1868, on the first floor of the Museum, above the new (and current) refreshment rooms, to the north of the garden.

Diana Davis also records its subsequent life in the Museum. In 1900 the vase was moved to the branch museum, Bethnal Green Museum (see Registered File MA/62/1/14 1900-1902 VA 55-45). No reason for the move was noted but the vase was described as 'damaged'. It is not certain but it may have been displayed in the Upper Gallery North Side, with other loans of pottery and porcelain. In 1912 it was returned to the main V&A site at South Kensington. Its re-display was discussed in 1984 but it remained in storage and the stand was lent to Kensington Palace. It was not until 2009 that the vase (without its stand) was once more put on view (Registered file MA/62/1/30, VA 155-13, 1934 to 1983). The article stresses the importance of the stand (however awkward in design) as a rare example of furntiure design specifically to show a piece of porcelain and the author refer to George, 6th Earl of Coventry (1722-1809) asking Robert Adam to design a stand for his Sèvres jug and basin in 1767.

This stand may have been made in France shortly after the vase which it supports was made (ca. 1790-95), but many of the dimensions relate closely to measurements in inches, which may suggest that it was made in England at a later date. Further, the design is based on classical tripod designs by the the great design innovator Thomas Hope (1769-1831), who published his designs in 1807 in his book Household Furniture and Interior Decoration.

This stand was made to display a French porcelain vase of exceptional size and quality, made in the Paris factory of Dihl and Guérhard in about 1790-95. We are not certain when it was made, but it was first recorded in 1833, with its vase, and the two pieces were acquired by the Museum in 1876. The stand is partly black painted and partly oil-gilded, but may originally have been completely gilded. The carving of the three monopodia figures of panthers are of good quality, but the overall design of the piece is somewhat inept, suggesing that it may have been a hasty design of something to show the very celebrated vase. The angle at which the monopodia stand gives them the appearance that they might slide outwards if the weight was too great, and the twisted, wrought-iron rod that runs up the centre of the stand may have been an afterthought, to help the stand to carry what was a substantial weight. The rod is oddly irregular in its twisting, as if a local blacksmith had been asked to provide a reinforcement. The design is based on classical tripod designs by the the great design innovator Thomas Hope (1769-1831), who published his designs in 1807 in his book Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, but it may have been made at a date closer to 1833.

309:3, 4-1876