PAIR OF PORCELAIN VASES. PARIS, FRANCE, 1795-1799.

Pair of vases. Enameled and gilded porcelain. Paris, France, Directoire period, 1795-1799. No marks. Pair of vases made of enamelled porcelain with abundant surfaces and gilded details, with a square base forming a single piece with the rest. The circular foot rises to a moulding that curves downwards, which gives way to the body, which widens upwards, ending in a thin neck finished off by another shape that curves downwards and a fine moulding; note the handles, with protomes of Fauns or figures of Bacchus with elaborate horns, in gilt. The difference between the two is in the scenes on the front. One shows the goddess Selene or Diana accompanied by a nymph, in a natural landscape; the other side, with a pink background, shows a doe with two calves. The other vase, also with a landscape in the background, shows two naked young women, with a swan (perhaps alluding to the classical myth of Leda); on the other side, with the same pink background tone as the other piece, it shows a dog with two goats. They do not have any marks that link them to any of the European factories of the period, and their appearance and lines derive from the so-called “amphora vases”, highly appreciated throughout the Neoclassical period for the details taken from Antiquity for their design and decoration. This popularity led to similar models being created in the most important factories throughout Europe (Meissen, KPM, Dresden, Sèvres or Sevres, etc.). Compare the pair with works of the so-called “Old Paris porcelain” (in particular the lines of the two vases), with works by Darte Frères, Carl Thieme, with the decoration on the feet and the satyrs used by the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres in some of its examples, etc. Two similar vases appeared at a prestigious auction, linked to Bringeon and dated to the beginning of the 19th century.

· Size: 21x17x42 cms.