Paris Porcelain Fire Gilt & Painted Medieval Tableau Scene Urn C. 1815-1830

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Description

This object is a finely executed, early 19th-century Continental Neoclassical porcelain vase, most likely of French or possibly Austrian origin, … Read more This object is a finely executed, early 19th-century Continental Neoclassical porcelain vase, most likely of French or possibly Austrian origin, dating to the Empire or Restauration period, circa 1815–1830. Crafted in hard-paste porcelain and mounted on a square plinth, the vase is extensively fire-gilded with a luminous burnished ground, and features both matte and gloss gilding techniques in layered reserve.

The front panel presents a masterfully painted figural scene in polychrome enamels, depicting a Renaissance or medieval tableau likely drawn from a literary or theatrical source. A robed friar or cleric, barefoot and gesturing with one hand while holding a manuscript in the other, addresses a youthful noble couple beneath a canopy of trees. The young man, dressed in elaborate slashed hose and a doublet, appears to be taking counsel, while the lady—elegantly clad in white with a pink mantle and pearl headdress—holds a rosary. The architecture and statuary in the background suggest a ruined Gothic chapel, enhancing the romantic and moralizing tone characteristic of early 19th-century porcelain narrative painting.

The reverse is richly decorated in incised and fire-gilt ornamentation with a classical armorial lyre flanked by oak and laurel leaves and draped floral garlands, rendered in matte and burnished gilding. Each side is flanked by winged caryatid-form handles in biscuit porcelain or matte gilding, modeled as classically robed female figures with upswept hair and outstretched wings, their forms continuing into palmette and anthemion motifs at the shoulder.

The interior is glazed in white, and the base reveals an unmarked underside with a central aperture, suggesting that the vase was at one time converted into a lamp. The absence of a visible factory mark is not unusual for the period, especially in unmarked Paris porcelain or Viennese wares. The decoration, form, and quality suggest production by one of the major Parisian ateliers—possibly Dagoty, Nast, or Darte Frères—or an equally ambitious Austrian firm such as the Imperial Manufactory at Vienna.

Measures:
15.875" h x 8.5" w x 6.5" d. See less