A gold-mounted hardstone vase, possibly Reinhold Vasters, Aix-La-Chapelle, circa 1870

the circular gadrooned base with a gold mount enamelled in green, blue and red, the chalcedony body part-fluted and carved with mythological scenes, the handles modelled as enamelled winged and helmeted caryatids, the fluted cover with a finial modelled as Hercules seated on an amethyst

11.8cm, 4⅝in. high

Catalogue Note:
This miniature vase bears a strong resemblance to the works of Reinhold Vasters, though no matching drawing has been found in the Vasters collection held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The enamelwork, for instance, draws on Renaissance models, as do the handles shaped like winged, helmeted caryatids. Vasters frequently repurposed older hardstone vessels, embellishing them with historicist mounts: a practice which may well apply to this vase. Alternatively, he could have commissioned an antique-style vase from a contemporary lapidary, given the exceptionally good condition of the body.

Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827–1905)

The eldest son of James de Rothschild, founder of the French branch of the German banking dynasty, he followed in his father's footsteps by taking over the bank and the family business. He inherited the Château de Ferrières and upheld the family tradition of connoisseurship and art collecting. He expanded the art collection, assembling a magnificent Kunstkammer, reminiscent of a Renaissance prince, which included elaborate mounted vessels and German zoomorphic pieces. It was most likely during this period that the present vase entered the Rothschild collections, supplied by Spitzer, who commissioned Vasters to create a piece that embodied the aesthetic of the Renaissance.

The vase remained in the family collections until it was sold by Baroness Batsheva at Christie’s, London on 14 December, 2000, lot 65.

Provenance:
Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905), Paris;

Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949), Paris;

confiscated from the above following the Nazi occupation of Paris by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg after May 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume (ERR no. R 3588);

recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section and transferred to the Central Collecting Point, Munich, September 3, 1945 (MCCP no. 7945/6);

repatriated to France July 11, 1946 and restituted to the Rothschild Collection; Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild (1914-1999), Tel Aviv;

Christie's, London, 14 December 2000, lot 65;

Christie's New York, 13 April 2016, lot 17 Rothschild inventory no. E. de R. 675

Literature:
F. Rossi; Italian Jewelled Arts; 1957; Plate LXXII.