an exceptionally large and rare gilt-bronze mounted vienna style porcelain painted lidded vase and pedestal late 19th century

painted in turquoise and claret ground with raised gilt and tooled cartouche, gilt scrollwork on green, claret, yellow and lilac grounds, gilt-bronze handles cast as female masks, the painted reserves with scenes of the classical mythology to the front and to the back, behive mark in underglazed blue and a painted floral branche with letter G in gilt. Associated white marble pedestal.

the front painted panel of this magnificent vase depicts the scene of Ulysses revealing Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes, the back panel depicts Ulysses resisting Circe’s enchanted potion.