A Pair of Lidded, Amphora-shaped Vases

François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818).

(Attributed to).

Paris, 1780s or circa 1815.

A Pair of Lidded, Amphora-shaped Vases.

Imperial Porphyry.

67 cm (26 ½ in.) high.

20 cm (8 in.) wide.

20 cm (8 in.) diameter at socle.

Provenance

Private collection, Europe.

Each carved from a single block of imperial porphyry, with the exception of the lids, and their socles, characterised by a simple, exquisitely elegant design, the present pair of amphora-shaped vases originates in France, where a passion for porphyry first cultivated by the Sun King, Louis XIV (1638-1715), led prestigious patrons throughout the eighteenth century to assemble princely collections of artifacts in this most fascinating of materials.

A highly prized stone, imperial porphyry – distinguished by a deep red colour and specks of white – was renowned for its rarity and hardness, which required carving by artists of particular skill. Originally quarried by the Egyptians, and later by the Romans between the first and fifth centuries A.D., on Mons Porphyrites, a cluster of inhospitable mountains in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, this particular type of porphyry was considered the prerogative of rulers and was closely associated with imperial power. From the Middle Ages onwards, when access to its quarries had long been lost, imperial porphyry was sourced from the limited supply of surviving ancient columns and artifacts that could be re-carved, making it all the more prestigious. Given its abundance of archaeological sites and imperial spolia, Rome rapidly became the heart of the trade and manufacture of porphyry, and it is here that Louis XIV’s emissaries concentrated their efforts. Between 1684 and 1690, the then director of the Académie in Rome was charged with sourcing porphyry artifacts for the King’s new residence at Versailles, a task he undertook with dedication, sending to France several crates full of treasures (Porphyre, p. 144). As drawings and payment records in French archives reveal, initially such porphyry items were often designed by artists at court, or by their agents in Rome, such as the abbot Elpidio Benedetti, and then cut by specialised Italian artisans, but in the eighteenth century this process gradually changed.

The roots of this evolution are to be found in the royal household’s Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs on Rue Bergère in Paris, an administrative body charged with managing royal entertainment, such as theatrical performances and concerts, which often involved projects for lavish ephemeral settings and props, and the king’s personal effects. Architects and designers at Menus-Plaisirs were therefore tasked with supplying designs for the monarch’s apartments’ furnishings, including highly finished decorative objects. Between the 1770s and early 1780s, under the direction of Louis-Marie-Augustin, Duc d’Aumont (1709-1782), one of Louis XVI’s four Premiers Gentilshommes de la Chambre du Roi, the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs’s architect François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818) produced several designs for vases to be carved in pietre dure, including porphyry, destined for the workshops of master carvers such as Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Delaplanche and Augustin Bocciardi (Porphyre, pp. 159-160). Bélanger must have felt inspired by these commissions, as in 1774 he wrote a manuscript treaty on ancient stones and their workmanship.

Initially a protégé of the Comte de Caylus, a noted connoisseur and author of an influential classification of ancient statuary and artifacts (Receuil d'Antiquités, 1752-57), Bélanger had attended the prestigious Académie Royale d'Architecture in Paris and had been appointed dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs (Designer of Entertainments) in 1767. Ten years later he became premier architecte to the Comte d’Artois (the King’s brother) and director of the Menus-Plaisirs, the role in which he first encountered the Duc d’Aumont. Bélanger famously designed the funeral of Louis XV, Louis XVI's coronation coach, and a jewel cabinet for Marie-Antoinette, considered one of the first major works in the Neo-classical style. Imprisoned during the French Revolution, he struggled to find patronage until the restoration of the French monarchy and the Congress of Vienna (1815). Once again charged with designing royal ceremonies, he orchestrated the removal of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette’s ashes to Saint Denis in 1815, but his most extensive contributions were no doubt in the fields of palatial architecture and interiors, and garden design. The National Archives in Paris hold several dozen drawings by Bélanger, in which he outlined decorative designs to be executed by the likes of master bronzier Pierre Gouthière, and master carvers such as the aforementioned Delaplanche and Bocciardi.

A fervent admirer of porphyry, the Duc d’Aumont employed several of the royal artists to create pieces for his own personal collection, including Bélanger, who records in his memoirs designing “objects in porphyry, granite, serpentine, jasper, agate, etc” for the Duke (Porphyre, p. 160). Porphyry vases and columns were the first lots in the posthumous sale of the “Cabinet du Duc d’Aumont”, which took place in Paris on 12 December 1782, and while the authorship of these artifacts is not recorded in the catalogue, the extensive descriptions and illustrations given have allowed scholars to identify a pair of porphyry vases owned by the Duke (lot 4) with one now in the Louvre (purchased by King Louis XVI at the 1782 auction), and attribute their design to Bélanger.

Described as “vases of a form so simple and correct, remarkable for their quality and the craftsmanship of their handles” in the sale catalogue, the pair now in the Louvre (fig. 1) are important examples of the emergence of the Neo-classical taste in France, with their lack of rocaille and the antiquarian echo of their shape. These characteristics are shared by the present pair of porphyry vases, which also display the same high quality of carving, with sharp edges, expertly polished surfaces, and handles cut from the same block as the body and stem. The conformation of the dish-shaped foot in both the Louvre and present vases is also significant, as it appears characteristic of Bélanger’s designs, and is repeated in another pair of porphyry vases, also attributed to him, now in the Wallace Collection in London (fig. 2).

The elongated shape of the present vases, compared to those in the Louvre and Wallace Collection, recalls more pronouncedly classical vessels, such as ancient Greek and Roman clay amphorae, which suggests a slightly later date, towards the end of the 1780’s.

Related Literature

P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture Vol. III, London, 1996, pp. 1397-99, no. 290 (F360-1)

P. Malgouyres and C. Blanc-Riehl, Porphyre: La pierre pourpre, des Ptolémées à Bonaparte, exh. cat., Louvre Museum, Paris, 2003

Fig. 1 Pair of Imperial Porphyry vases in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

Fig. 2 One of the pair of Imperial Porphyry vases in the Wallace Collection, London.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number