SAINT-CLOUD PAIR OF FIGURES REPRESENTING... - Lot 215 - Crait + Müller

Lot 215
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Result : 28 000EUR
SAINT-CLOUD PAIR OF FIGURES REPRESENTING... - Lot 215 - Crait + Müller
SAINT-CLOUD PAIR OF FIGURES REPRESENTING A CHINESE AND A CHINESE in white enamelled soft paste forming a pendant. They are sitting on a base of rocks and plants. These figures dressed in large tunics are turned to the side and raise their arms in response to each other. The Chinese man is wearing a pointed hat, the Chinese woman a headdress. 18th century, circa 1730-1740. 18th century gilt bronze base, 19th century sheet metal branches, decorated with 18th and 19th century porcelain flowers. Restorations on both hands and missing on the top of the headdress of the Chinese woman. Firing cracks and wear of enamel in places. Chips on the base and on the plants for both. Chips on the flowers. Chinese H. without frame 21,2 cm with frame 27 cm Chinese H. without frame 21 cm with frame 30 cm Today we know five examples of similar pairs: - two pairs in polychrome circa 1730-1740, one unmounted, the other mounted as a candelabra, are in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 54.147.10 and 54.147.11; inv. 1982.60.253 and 1982.60.254); - a pair in white around 1730-1740 and its gilded bronze mount is kept in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (inv. 23968.A and 23968.B); - a pair in white without mount attributed at the time to Mennecy, appeared in the sale Félix Doistau in Paris on June 18 and 19, 1928, n°65 (sold 15 100 Fr.); - a pair in white circa 1730-1740 and its gilt bronze mounting was sold by Christie's in New York in the Vince Camuto sale on June 15-29, 2021, lot 95. ORIGINS AND INFLUENCES: Porcelain imported from Asia to Europe was prized by collectors, favoring imitations by European manufactures. In France, the manufactures of Saint-Cloud, Mennecy, and Chantilly produced such pieces, in keeping with a taste for the exotic that was fashionable in the 1720s and 1740s, as evidenced by the clothing and attitude of these statuettes reflecting a dreamy idea of Asia. The white enameled porcelains of Saint-Cloud are imitated from the white statuettes produced in Dehua in the Fujian region of China and exported to Europe. These figures are never marked at Saint-Cloud, unlike other European factories. The addition of a gilded bronze mount by Parisian merchant-merchants increased their preciousness and rarity. The theatrical posture and the movement of the arms of these statuettes allow us to interpret them as actors. The Chinese in this pair can be compared to a drawing of a dancer by François Boucher, engraved by Aveline, where we find the straw hat, considered the most typical element of Chinese costume. The figure of the Chinese woman is less exotic in inspiration, as the craftsmen have fewer characteristic models. Five examples of this model are known, polychrome or left white, their differences residing in the treatment of the rocky base and their plant ornaments. BIBLIOGRAPHY : - Lahaussois (Christine), Porcelaines de Saint-Cloud. Collection du musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, RMN, 1997, cat. 153, p. 99-100, ill. p. 119. - Rondot (Bertrand), Discovering the Secrets of Soft-Past Porcelain at The Saint-Cloud Manufactory, ca. 1690-1766, Yale University Press, New Heaven and London, 1999, cat. 172 p. 226, p. 270, p. 288. - Catalog of the sale of the Félix Doistau collection, June 18 and 19, 1928, n°65.
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