Ornamental vase

The plain, circular, rising foot is continued in a narrow juncture with circular rim, supporting the egg-shaped body. The top is spindle-shaped, with a round top rim. The whole surface of the middle part of the body is painted with the allegories of music and dance: cupids, young male and female figures dressed in Grecian clothes are playing music and dancing in groups of three and four. The figures are place in a hilly landscape with a low horizon. Among the groups, there is one just watching the others, and a young couple pouring some drink. Though the movements are slightly artificial and stiff, the painting radiates emotions. Above the high-standard, coloured painting, gar-lands of faithfully formed and painted flowers decorate the turquoise shoulder of the vase, arranged in four curves, with four garlands hanging down in between. The foot, the bottom part of the vase and the neck is decorated with repeated motifs on a turquoise base, enframed with relief gilding. The white fields of palmets and ribbons, alternating with musical instruments hanging down, are repeated four times on these elements of the vase. Coupling the idealizing painting with the naturalistic floral garlands creates a fairly unusual effect.

This outstanding piece from the manufacture of the czar was made for the decoration of representative spaces in aristocratic homes. It was closely studied by Klára Tasnádi-Marik, who also tried to identify the makers and painters, on the basis of B. N. Emme's book entitled Ruskii Hudozestvennii farfor (Iskustvo, Moscow-Leningrad, 1950, p. 43.).

Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard in his Sevres (Paris, Librairie Renouard-H. Laurens, Paris, 1908, p. 149) gives the name of August Moreau, who was working in Sevres between 1853 and 1886. The master gilder, working temporarily in St. Petersburg, was probably the member of the same family.