AN ASSEMBLED GARNITURE OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED SEVRES BLEU CELESTE PORCELAIN POT POURRI VASES AND COVERS

The Sèvres factory produced vases à monter, or vases intended to be fitted with ormolu mounts, beginning in around 1764. There were three main forms which were sold largely to marchand-merciers who then embellished them. These mounts tend to conform to five basic patterns, which could indicate each marchand mercier had its own signature design. The earlier vases were glazed in solid ground colors, although invoices exist for pieces decorated with green and blue grounds scattered with foliate wreaths centered by roses by 1770.
Virtually identical garnitures include one in the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and one sold from the collection of Jaime Ortiz-Patiño; Sotheby's, New York, 20 May 1992, lot 31 (with a green ground), suggesting the possibility that such garnitures were originally conceived together, despite the variations in the handles.