Description:

PAIR OF SEVRES PARCEL-GILT BISCUIT PORCELAIN WINGED LIONS CARRYING PIERCED BASKETS ON TOLE PLINTHS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY incised on the base of one basket "ch // 25-5 // 2 " and "g // 24-2 //2" on the second basket (see Tamara Preaud, 1997 the mark "ch" identifies Mathias Chanou (1819-1820) p. 358 fn 3.

The winged lion along with a lioness was designed by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard in 1817 (see Fragonard's watercolor: inv. no. D-6 1817 no. 1 and no. 2). The lion was to be part of an elaborate dessert service. One of the Brachard brothers, either Jean-Charles-Nicholas Brachard l'aîné or his younger brother Jean-Nicholas Alexandre Brachard, both at Sèvres made Fragonard's fantasy into porcelain form a few years later. It would appear that only the lion model was put into production as no lionesses are recorded. Sèvres has both Fragonard's drawings and a plaster model of Brachard's sculpture.

Tamara Préaud records several examples of this model in the Sèvres sales inventories, see p. 223 no. 44 a; p. 358, pl. 143, a, b for an illustration of two lions. The first examples of this model are recorded in the Sèvres sales inventories on 26 December, 1818, and were exhibited in the Louvre on 1 January, 1819. They were subsequently delivered on 2 February, 1820, to Monsieur le Chevalier de La Malle conseiller d'État Membre du comité du contentieux. A further single example was sent to the salesroom on 1 July, 1820, and was subsequently delivered to M. Destouches, 'préfet' on 2 June, 1820; the next two examples reached the sales inventories on 30 May, 1823, and were delivered to the Garde-Meuble on 10 June, 1824. Further recorded salesroom entries are dated 1845 and 1849. The price of the earliest example was 290 francs with little subsequent variation. -

Examples of this model that have appeared at auction include the single example sold twice by Sotheby's, once in London on 23 June 1992, lot 201, and again in New York on 22 October 1995, lot 331. A pair illustrated by Tamara Préaud, Ibid., 1997, p. 358, nos. 143 a & b, were subsequently sold at Christie's in New York on 19 October 2007, lot 364 and another pair sold at Christie's in New York on 26 November 2013, lot 355. A single example is retained in the Ministry of Foreign Affaires in Paris and is illustrated by Tamara Préaud and Marcelle Brunet, Sèvres des origines à nos jours, Fribourg, 1978, p. 291, no. 354. (2) - h:13.75 w:15 in.

Provenance: Private French Furniture Collection from a Château in France

Literature: Tamara Peraud, "The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory: Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847", The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1997, p. 223 no. 44 a; p. 358, pl. 143, a, b

Tamara Préaud and Marcelle Brunet, "Sèvres des origines à nos jours,"Fribourg, 1978, p. 291, no. 354. (2)

  • Condition: Condition reports are provided upon request but not included in the object description above. Kindly contact Potomack for condition notes.

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