10376 A fine pair of gilt bronze mounted Paris porcelain vases serpents, the bodies decorated with octagonal panels depicting neoclassical scenes contemporaneously over-decorated in a London workshop, the neck and lower body decorated with sphinxes and fountains, the handles formed from entwined snakes supported by a spreading circular socle, and on a square gilt bronze plinth base.
French, Paris
1800-1810
Height: 17.25 ins (44 cms)
Base: 5.75 ins (14.5 cms)² £12,000
Description
The band of decoration to the bodies seems to have been overdecorated in an English workshop. There seems to be no damage to the vases which might require this type of restoration so we can propose that the muted colours of the Paris porcelain painter needed strengthening for the taste of a particular English client.
An interesting development in the confidence of the new British “connoisseurs” if this is the case.
