Page 111 - Mounted Oriental Porcelain, The Getty Museum

FIG. ZOA. The "ghost" of the original gilded design on the porcelain.

appeared black. This process yielded their intensely renewed interest during the neoclassical period in furni-
hard surface which when polished gained a lustrous ture set with panels of Boulle marquetry and Japanese
metallic sheen, hence the name mirror black. The purple lacquer, which remained fashionable. By contrast, most
and brown that make up the black can be seen on the double-gourd vases with rococo mounts are celadons,
Getty Museum's vases at the lip and foot, where the such as the vase at the Huntington Library, San Marino. 6
glaze is thin. The gilt-bronze mounts on these vases appear to be
Double-gourd vases were mounted in France of unique form. The U-shaped handles may imitate ce-
throughout the eighteenth century but appeared to great- ramic handles of the same shape seen on other double-
est advantage in neoclassical mounts. The sobriety of this gourd vases, such as the example at the Rijksmuseum,
antique style, which gained wide acceptance by about Amsterdam, that joined the body of the vase at the base
7
1765, suited the pure geometry of the double-gourd of the neck and the top of the hip. Although the iden-
form. 5 On the Museum's vases this relationship is fur- tity of the bronzier is not known, the original design and
thered by the contrast between the black glaze and the high quality of the bronze casting and chasing indicate a
gilt-bronze mounts. This aesthetic aligned itself with the craftsman of significant accomplishment.

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