26/10/11 - Acquisition - New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The first day of the Fabius auction which took place on 26 October at Sotheby’s Paris (see news item of 16/3/11), the Metropolitan Museum acquired the pair of Medici vases, second size, in hard-paste Sèvres porcelain, painted and signed by Jean-François Robert, a specialist of painted porcelain and glass, active at the factory between 1806 and 1843. The vases are dated 1811 [1] and were purchased for 983,150 € (including charges) (ill. 1 and 2). One of the vases shows Napoleon in front of the château in Saint Cloud alongside Marie-Louise in a barouche, while the second one represents him before the hillside of Bellevue and Meudon, following an iconographic plan suggested perhaps by Alexandre Brongniart (the son of the architect), who was then director of the Manufacture at Sèvres. Unlike most porcelain painters who worked after models created by other artists, Jean-François Robert designed his own compositions [2].
1. Manufacture de Sèvres
Jean-François Robert (1778-1855)
Pair of Medici Vases with a polychrome decoration
"sur fond écaille"
Hard-paste porcelain - H. 66 cm
New York, Metropolitan Museum
Photo : Sotheby’s
2. Manufacture de Sèvres
Jean-François Robert (1778-1855)
Medici Vases with a polychrome decoration
"sur fond écaille", detail
Napoleon in front of the château in Saint Cloud
alongside Marie-Louise in a barouche
Hard-paste porcelain - H. 66 cm
New York, Metropolitan Museum
Photo : Sotheby’s
The vases have an illustrious provenance as they were commissioned by Napoleon for his brother, Jérôme, King of Westphalia, before being bought in 1840 by Prince Anatole Demidoff for his wedding to Princess Mathilda, the daughter of Jérôme and his wife Catherine of Würtemberg, who died in 1835. The vases, which were part of the 1880 sale of the villa San Donato furnishings, then disappeared until they resurfaced in 1963 at an auction where they were acquired by the Fabius gallery.
A Sèvres vase which is comparable in form, size and décor, dated 1810, resides at Versailles and represents on one side a view of the palace of Sanssouci, Germany.