This precious, elegant object of a courtly type - the last word in luxury - has been associated with Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 1774 to 1793, as it was listed in the Jones collection inventory, 15 May 1882, alongside furniture also supposedly linked with Marie Antoinette. Although there is no firm documentary evidence, the connection made in the Jones document at least indicates the importance attached by the collector and the Museum to such putative royal connections when collecting French decorative art. This miniature representation of the orders of architecture as defined by Vitruvius - Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, with the later addition of Composite - continued to be described in label and publication texts as linked to the French queen. William Maskell's 1883 Jones collection handbook, for example, stated that the piece was "designed and made for Marie Antoinette, in order to teach her (it is said) something of the science". This information may have originated with Jones's manservant Arthur Habgood, who inherited Jones's house and probably assisted curators in compiling the inventory. Versailles curator Christian Baulez has recently found a reference to a payment made by the goldsmith R.-A. Drais in 1790 for a set of seven lapis columns that may or may not be related to this object.
Physical description
Lapis lazuli columns, mounted in gold, on a base of red porphyry and in ormolu resting on ball feet.
Place of Origin
France (made)
Date
ca. 1780 (made)
Artist/maker
Drais, Robert Arnould (possibly, maker)
Materials and Techniques
Lapis lazuli columns, mounted in gold; on a base of red porphyry mounted in ormolu
Dimensions
Height: 27.8 cm, Length: 36 cm base, Depth: 15.5 cm
Object history note
This object has been associated with Marie Antoinette, queen of France, wife of Louis XVI from 1774 to 1793. Latterly in the John Jones collection.
Descriptive line
Architectural model, 'The Five Orders of Architecture', lapis lazuli columns, mounted in silver gilt perhaps made by Robert Arnould Drais, France, ca.1780
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
This precious, elegant object of a courtly type - the last word in luxury - has been associated with Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 1774 to 1793, as it was listed in the Jones collection inventory, 15 May 1882, alongside furniture also supposedly linked with Marie Antoinette. Although there is no firm documentary evidence, the connection made in the Jones document at least indicates the importance attached by the collector and the Museum to such putative royal connections when collecting French decorative art. This mini representation of the orders of architecture as defined by Vitruvius - Tuscan, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, with the later addition of Composite, continued to be described in label and publication texts as linked to the French Queen. William Maskell's 1883 Jones collection hand-book, for example, stated that the piece was ""designed and made for Marie Antoinette, in order to teach her (it is said) something of the science."" This information may have originated with Jones' manservant Arthur Habgood, who inherited Jones' house and probably assisted curators in compiling the inventory. Versailles curator Christian Baulez has recently found reference to a payment made by the goldsmith R.A. Drais in 1790 for a set of seven lapis columns that may or may not be related to this object.
Under the terms of the 1882 Jones bequest, this object was displayed with other material from the Jones collection until a century later, the stringent stipulations concerning display were lifted by the National Heritage Act of 1983. Having previously epitomised the art of pre-Revolutionary France in the Museum's displays, this exquisite object has since 1992 been used in the Ornament Gallery to demonstrate to a twentieth-century public the precepts of architecture known to educated viewers from the Renaissance until the nineteenth century.
Lit. South Kensington, 1883b; V&A, 1924, pp. 53, 69; Sutton, 1972, pp. 160-1
WENDY FISHER
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1882. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1883. pp. 77
Catalogue of the Jones Bequest. 1924
Sutton, Denys. 'A Born Virtuoso'. Apollo. 1972. 95. no. 121, pp. 160-1
Exhibition History
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)
A Grand Design (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A Grand Design (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A Grand Design (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A Grand Design (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A Grand Design (The Baltimore Museum of Art 01/01/1997-31/12/1999)
Materials
Gold; Ormolu; Lapis lazuli; Red antique porphyry
Subjects depicted
Doric order; Corinthian order; Ionic order; Composite order; Tuscan order
Categories
Sculpture; Architecture
Collection code
SCP
