Page 340 - Christie's, NYC Important Chinese Works Of Art Sept. 22-23, 2022

1031
A GE-TYPE CONG-FORM VASE WITH ORMOLU MOUNTS
THE VASE DAOGUANG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN
UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850); THE MOUNTS
FRENCH, PROBABLY L'ESCALIER DE CRISTAL, CIRCA 1880
The vase is molded in the shape of a cong with the Eight Trigrams (bagua) and
covered overall with a pale bluish-grey glaze suffused with a network of black
crackles.
With mounts: 17Ω in. (44.5 cm.) high
$60,000-80,000

The beautiful ormolu mounts closely relate to those produced by the
Parisian marchand-éditeur and luxury boutique L'Escalier de Cristal, who
was renowned for their innovative and expressive bronze mountings for
precious Chinese porcelain. Established in 1802 by Mme. Désarnaud, the
firm would become in the late 19 century the premier retailer of objets de
th
luxe including vases, lighting, furniture, clocks and bibelot from showrooms in
the fashionable area of L'Opéra. As 'Fournisseur breveté du Roi’ they supplied
furniture and objets d’art to noble families throughout France and beyond,
including to Russian clientele such as Tsar Alexander III, Grand Duke Alexis
Alexandrovitch and the Demidov Family.
A flambe-glazed vase with very similar ormolu mounts is illustrated by A.
Masseau and D. Masseau in L’Escalier de Cristal: le luxe à Paris 1809-1923,
Paris, 2021, p. 174. A pair of such vases was supplied by the firm to the
Rothschild Family and a related example is preserved in the permanent
collection of Waddesdon Manor. The model was additionally adapted by
the celebrated ébéniste, Emmanuel-Alfred Beurdeley (d. 1919), whose family
workshop was lauded for the extremely high-level quality of bronze chasing
and use of excessively precious hardstones and porcelain. A celadon-glazed
cong-form vase with very similar ormolu mounts was sold following the
closing of the atelier on 6-9 May 1895 at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 16.
(Fig. 1)
A similar Daoguang-marked cong-form vase formerly in the collection of
Dr. Henri Onimus was sold at Christie’s London, 8 November 2011, lot 362.
Another Daoguang-marked example was sold at Christie’s New York, 18
September 2015, lot 2176.

清道光 仿哥釉八卦琮式瓶 六字篆書款
金屬配件: 法國, 1880年前後

Fig. 1 A similar ormolu-mounted celadon cong-form vase sold following the
closing of the atelier of Emmanuel-Alfred Beurdeley (d. 1919) on 6-9 May 1895
at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 16.
圖一 一件與是次拍品相近鑲金屬配件的青釉琮式瓶, 在Emmanuel-Alfred
(mark) Beurdeley (1919年逝) 的工作室結業後於 1895 年 5 月6-9 日在巴黎喬治·佩蒂
畫廊拍出, 拍品編號16

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