One of a Pair of Vases

Description This vase and its mate demonstrate the extraordinarily high quality of production maintained at the Sèvres Manufactory during the early 19th century. Their shape, known as "carafe étrusque," was based on that of ancient vessels collected by Dominique Vivant, baron of Denon, during his service at the French embassy in Rome prior to the French Revolution. Nicolas-Marie Moriot, a figure-painter at Sèvres, based his images of the reigning King Louis-Philippe and Queen Marie-Amèlie on prints after Franz Xaver Winterhalter's portraits of the monarch and his wife. The rich decoration of palmettes, rosettes, and flower-forms is painted in gold and platinum.

Exhibitions

• The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, 1800-1847: Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Innovation. The Bard Graduate Center, New York. 1997-1998.
• Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1999-2000.
• A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. 2002-2004.

Provenance Queen Marie-Amélie [delivered to the Queen on the verbal order of King Louis-Philippe], Paris, January 8, 1845; Henry Walters, Baltimore, prior to 1931 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Factory Mark] On rim, in black: L P in monogram, SEVRES 1844

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters