A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU, PATINATED BRONZE AND ROUGE GRIOTTE MARBLE EWERS

These vases' characteristic slender elongated shape, with a winged griffin handle accentuating a deeply scrolled spout, is typical for the oeuvre of Claude Galle (1759-1815). Apprenticed to Pierre Foy during the later years of the reign of Louis XVI, Galle became a master in 1786. He flourished during the Empire, when he supplied bronzes to Compiegne, Versailles and the Grand Trianon, but also to various other courts in Europe. These present vases are related to Galle's 'maiden' vases and his popular series of ewers, examples of which remain at Pavlovsk, and which are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pörschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Münich, 1986, vol. I, figs. 5.12.6 and 5.12.9, pp. 364-365 and A. de Gourcuff (ed.), Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121.