A GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED SEVRES (REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE) PORCELAIN VASE (VASE FUSEAU, 2EME GRANDEUR)

The present vase appears to correspond with the entry in the Sèvres archives for "4 vases fuseau 2e [grandeur] représentant la musique et la danse d’après Raphaël" entering the salesroom room in December 1849 (Sèvres, archives, registre VV5), and was exhibited in the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue, The Industry of All Nations, 1851, p. 172, illustrates one of the other three vases from this set, with the same handles and spiraling grapevine decor, and notes it also after "Raffaelle". Two of the vases from the set also appear to be illustrated in the watercolor of 'The Great Exhibition: the Sèvres Court dated 1851' by James Roberts, currently in the collection of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II (RCIN 919987).

For another vase fuseau, 2ème grandeur with the same unusual grapevine handles, dating to 1848, see Sotheby's, New York, 2 June 2005, lot 70.