A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE ORNAMENTAL VASES

These vases with their slender form and graceful mounts are closely related to the oeuvre of the bronzier Claude Galle (1759-1815). Galle flourished during the Empire when he supplied bronzes and ormolu mounts for furniture, clocks and other decorative items to Compiègne, Versailles, Saint-Cloud, the Grand Trianon and various other Courts throughout Europe. These vases are comparable to examples with elegant bodies and masked mounts illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, figs. 5.12.8 and 5.12.12, pp. 364 – 365. A similar pair of vases sold Christie’s, London, 15 March 2012, lot 11, and another model with identical mounts on porcelain sold Christie’s, Paris, 22-23 April 2013, lot 478.