A Sèvres (hard-paste) Royal portrait vase (vase à oreilles), circa 1777-1778

A Sèvres (hard-paste) Royal portrait vase (vase à oreilles), circa 1777-1778

of the third size, painted with a portrait medallion of Charles-Emmanuel of Sardinia, the reverse with a medallion reserving a small still-life of a basket of flowers on a marble ledge, decorated with gilt leafy garlands, painted red crowned interlaced L's mark, gilder's mark Pe for Pierre l’aîné
height 7 in.; 19,7 cm.
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Vase "à oreilles" en porcelaine dure, Manufacture de Sèvres, 1777-1778

peint avec le portrait de Charles-Emmanuel de Sardaigne, marque du L entrelacé, couronné et peint en rouge, marque du peintre P(e) pour Jean-Jacques Pierre dit Pierre Le jeune
height 7 in.; 19,7 cm.

Condition Report:
The vase presents well but has been damaged by very well restored.

The vase has an impact star crack to the lower right of the still life cartouche, the cracks from this extend around the body of the vase affecting the lower part of the portrait cartouche the which has been very well repainted. The crack forks and also travels to the lower part of the left handle which has been restored and the gilding retouched. The screw to the foot has been over-tightened at some point and has two hairline cracks issue from the centre of the base, both about 2.5 cm long and slightly stained. A few minute scattered flakes to gilding.

Catalogue Note:
In August 1775 the painter Philippe Parpette was recorded as being paid 48 livres for painting 'fleurs et fruits' on a vase à oreilles with a portrait 'du prince de Piedmont' but it is unclear which vase this was. On 12 March 1778, Pithou l’aîné had painted a vase à oreilles with a 'portrait de Mme de Piemont'; also in 1778 he was paid 48 livres for overtime work on a vase of this shape. On 14 June 1778 Parpette is recorded as painting flowers and fruit on a vase à oreilles with a portrait of 'Md. de Piemont'.

Carlo-Emanuele Ferdinando Maria di Savoia was born in Turin as the eldest son of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. As the eldest son and heir to the throne he was styled Prince of Piedmont until he succeeded his father in 1796. His marriage to Clotilde of France in 1775 was part of a wider series of Franco-Savoyard dynastic marriages which took place over eight years. In 1771, Charles-Emmanuel's sister, Marie Joséphine, married Clotilde's brother Louis Stanislas, Comte de Provence, and in 1773, another sister, Marie Thérèse, married another of Clotilde's brothers, Charles Philippe, the Comte d'Artois.

There are two closely-associated vases of the same size, shape and similar scheme of decoration painted with portraits of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette bearing the date letter for 1774, in the collection of the Hetjens Museum, Dusseldorf, illustrated in Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, et. al, Marie Antoinette, exh. cat., 2008, p. 186, nos. 128a, b.

Provenance:
Made as pair with a matching vase depicting his wife Clotilde of France, purchased on 25th November 1778 from the Sèvres factory by the Sardinian Ambassador to France on behalf of the Prince of Piedmont, who was from 1796 the King of Sardinia;

Duriez Collection, sold in Paris between 4-24 February 1829, lot 839;

Adrian Sassoon, London;

Acquired from the above in 2015.

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Réalisé en paire avec un vase assorti représentant son épouse Clotilde de France, acheté le 25 novembre 1778 à la manufacture de Sèvres par l'ambassadeur de Sardaigne en France pour le compte du prince de Piémont, qui fut à partir de 1796 le roi de Sardaigne;

Collection Duriez, vendue à Paris du 4 au 24 février 1829, lot 839;

Adrian Sassoon, Londres ;

Acquis auprès de lui en 2015.