vase cannelé
Vase
1762 (made)
1762 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This vase was among eighty-nine pieces of Sèvres porcelain bequeathed with a collection especially rich in eighteenth-century French decorative art by John Jones in 1882. As the handbook to the Jones Collection stated in 1883: "Suddenly ... a collection has been given ... which contains the very objects so much to be desired, and, as it seemed a year ago, so hopeless of attainment." A military tailor who made his fortune during the Crimean War, Jones (1799-1882) started collecting seriously in the 1850s, sharing a taste for luxury objects of the ancien regime with aristocratic collectors such as the fourth marquess of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace (founders of London's Wallace Collection), John Bowes, and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild.
This vase shape had an amusing unofficial name which has come down to us in some contemporary documents: 'vase à corset' or 'bodice vase'. The name seems very fitting when considering the cut away curves of the moulded shape. The shape was one of many designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis and dates from 1754. According to Geoffrey de Bellaigue, who made a detailed study of this shape for his catalogue (see below) it was made in six sizes with covers, the cover from this vase (and its pair) has unfortunately not survived. The pair in the Royal Collection has a deep blue gilded ground for the lower part of shape, emphasizing its similarity to the bodice of a dress. The dealer and marchand-mericer Lazare Duvaux whose sales book survives bought twelve examples between 20 August 1756 and 1 January 1757. The model appears most frequently in the records from 1755-60 with relatively few being made in the 1760s. According to de Bellaigue: 'The vases may have fallen from grace because their shape was judged too fanciful and delicate for the 1760s and 70s, when neo-classicism was becoming all the rage.'
Geoffrey de Bellaigue. French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Collection Publications, 2009, 3 vols.
This vase shape had an amusing unofficial name which has come down to us in some contemporary documents: 'vase à corset' or 'bodice vase'. The name seems very fitting when considering the cut away curves of the moulded shape. The shape was one of many designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis and dates from 1754. According to Geoffrey de Bellaigue, who made a detailed study of this shape for his catalogue (see below) it was made in six sizes with covers, the cover from this vase (and its pair) has unfortunately not survived. The pair in the Royal Collection has a deep blue gilded ground for the lower part of shape, emphasizing its similarity to the bodice of a dress. The dealer and marchand-mericer Lazare Duvaux whose sales book survives bought twelve examples between 20 August 1756 and 1 January 1757. The model appears most frequently in the records from 1755-60 with relatively few being made in the 1760s. According to de Bellaigue: 'The vases may have fallen from grace because their shape was judged too fanciful and delicate for the 1760s and 70s, when neo-classicism was becoming all the rage.'
Geoffrey de Bellaigue. French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Collection Publications, 2009, 3 vols.
Object details
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| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | soft-paste porcelain, enamelled and gilded |
| Brief description | Vase of soft-paste porcelain, painted with polychrome floral garlands and gilded, painted by Jacques Fontaine, Sèvres porcelain factory, France, 1762. |
| Physical description | Vase of tapering form, the shoulder and upper part fluted, the lower part smooth with a split in the centre forming a deep V, extending at the sides and curling over to form the two foliate handles. The white body is enamelled with garlands of polychrome flowers, the moulding, rim and foot picked out in gold. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label | Vase
1762
Vases of this shape were described as ‘vases cannelés’ and ‘vases à corset’ (‘ribbed’ or ‘corset-shaped’) in Sèvres factory documents. Their purchasers are listed as members of the royal family and marchands merciers (specialist luxury retailers). Although the Sèvres factory was wholly owned by Louis XV from 1759, it served merchants and a wider public, as well as fulfilling royal orders.
France (Paris)
Made at the Sèvres factory
Porcelain painted in enamels and gilded
Bequeathed by John Jones
(09/12/2015) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | The vase is one of a pair with 801A-1882. These vases originally had covers. There is a pair of lidded vases cannelé with a bleu lapis caillouté ground, dated c.1755-7, in the Royal Collection, London (36117.1.a-b and 36117.1.a-b) and a lidded vase of 1754 in the Danish Museum of Art & Design, Copenhagen. A pair, also without lids, the upper part with the bleu lapis caillouté ground, dated c.1755-6, in the J. Pierpont Morgan collection at Wadsworth Athenaeum. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This vase was among eighty-nine pieces of Sèvres porcelain bequeathed with a collection especially rich in eighteenth-century French decorative art by John Jones in 1882. As the handbook to the Jones Collection stated in 1883: "Suddenly ... a collection has been given ... which contains the very objects so much to be desired, and, as it seemed a year ago, so hopeless of attainment." A military tailor who made his fortune during the Crimean War, Jones (1799-1882) started collecting seriously in the 1850s, sharing a taste for luxury objects of the ancien regime with aristocratic collectors such as the fourth marquess of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace (founders of London's Wallace Collection), John Bowes, and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. This vase shape had an amusing unofficial name which has come down to us in some contemporary documents: 'vase à corset' or 'bodice vase'. The name seems very fitting when considering the cut away curves of the moulded shape. The shape was one of many designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis and dates from 1754. According to Geoffrey de Bellaigue, who made a detailed study of this shape for his catalogue (see below) it was made in six sizes with covers, the cover from this vase (and its pair) has unfortunately not survived. The pair in the Royal Collection has a deep blue gilded ground for the lower part of shape, emphasizing its similarity to the bodice of a dress. The dealer and marchand-mericer Lazare Duvaux whose sales book survives bought twelve examples between 20 August 1756 and 1 January 1757. The model appears most frequently in the records from 1755-60 with relatively few being made in the 1760s. According to de Bellaigue: 'The vases may have fallen from grace because their shape was judged too fanciful and delicate for the 1760s and 70s, when neo-classicism was becoming all the rage.' Geoffrey de Bellaigue. French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Collection Publications, 2009, 3 vols. |
| Associated object | 801A-1882 (Pair) |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 801-1882 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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