A pair of alabaster vases and covers, after the Antique

Comparative Literature:
Alvar Gonzales-Palacios, Arredi e Ornamenti alla Corte di Roma, 1560-1795, Milan, 2004, p. 112 for an alabaster vase conceived in a similar vein with a very similarly carved cover and overhanging rim – reproduced here in fig. 1.

Also see Gonzales-Palacios, op. cit., p. 113 for a related pair of vases with a very similar carved mask on the side (Private Collection). In the late 17^th century in France, there was a large scale production of ornamental vases in white statuary marble and they featured grotesque masks and naturalistic motifs. There is also a pair of vases by the French sculptor Jacques Grimault (before 1673) which are also carved with satyr masks. The influence of prints and drawings may well have contributed to the taste for these types of vases in other countries such as Italy. It was rare in Rome to produce vases of this type although they were sometimes made in Florence, such as by the artist Baldessare Franceschini called Volterrano (1611-1689) who designed similar types of vases. Another Tuscan artist Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) executed drawings for ornamental vases engraved by the French publisher Langlois in around 1646 which soon spread throughout France, Italy and the rest of Europe.

It is also worth comparing a pair of vases with similarly carved masks, offered for sale as lot 314, in these rooms, on 12^th June 2002 and for an extensive footnote by Prof. Alvar Gonzales-Palacios.