Object details
Object number
C18w16.1-2
Creator(s)
Title
Pair of Covered Vases
Date
1860-1880
Medium
Polychrome enamels and gold on hard paste porcelain on a gilded bronze mount
Dimensions
42.5 cm (16 3/4 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Drinking song inscribed (in couplets around the vase beginning on museum no. C18w16.1, ): Nous aul très innocents / Ne buvons que trop sans soif (left side) / Saulter danser faire des tours / boire vin blanc et vermeil (right side) / furieux est, de bon sens, ne jouit / Quiconque boit et ne s'en rejouit (front) [We other innocents only drink too much when not thirsty: jumping, dancing, going around drinking wine white and rosy. Mad is he, of good judgement. Whosoever drinks and doesn't enjoy it...) [continues on the pendant vase, museum no. C18w16.2] : En la Chaleur ce n'est qu' à boire / droict et net. voire et du meuilleur (left side) / Nos Pères burent bien / et Vidarent les pots (right side) / Mouillez vous pour Seicher / Ou Seichez vous pour Mouiller (front)
Maker's mark (on the bottom of both vases, in black enamel): Schilt (probably François-Philippe-Abel Schilt, active at Sèvres, 1845-1880)
Inscribed (on two paper cards with a lion emblem, in ink): Old Dresden / 1760 / From Ludwig Collection
Provenance
Said to be from the Royal Collection of Bavaria.
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection by 1882.
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 138. (as Sèvres, 19th century)
Ellenor Alcorn et al. The Best of the Decorative Arts. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum IV. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), pp. 40-41, ill. (as France, probably Sèvres factory, probably 1860-1880)
Gallery
Little Salon
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