A pair of Louis XV/XVI transitional ormolu-mounted Sèvres green porcelain lidded vases circa 1765, attributed to Jean Dulac, the lids associated

each with a lid fitted with conforming foliate-cast ormolu mount and surmounted by a finial, the vase mounted with a pierced guilloche frieze and satyr masks connected with heavy laurel swags, supported by an ormolu ribbon-tied fascia-mounted fluted stem raised on a square base.

André Mavon, Paris, 1968

Ormolu with some rubbing, most to rims of lids, traces of oxidation and surface dirt.
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The Sèvres manufactory's first production of 'vases à monter' dates to at around 1763, most probably at the behest of Jean Dulac (1704-1786). Dulac was a Parisian marchand-mercier, and a parfumeur by profession, who specialized in the commercialization of Sèvres porcelain. His name appears numerous times in the Sèvres sales registers between 1758 and 1776 when he acquired a high number of vases, which he then fitted with ormolu mounts and sold to an illustrious clientele. He had a varied stock and besides vases he also sold 'garniture de cheminées; vases montées en or moulu; girandoles; pendule de bureaux.' Dulac can certainly be credited with establishing and spreading the fashion of objets montés, which enjoyed great popularity among members of the French, English and Russian aristocracy. Dulac's shop was one of the most fashionable stores in Paris, and Horace Walpole described it in his A journal of my journey to Paris in 1765 as "that extravagant and expensive shop." In fact, Walpole himself purchased mounted vases from Dulac. Other notable collectors of mounted vases were Madame du Barry, who purchased two vases beau bleu montés en bronze for 1,000 livres each, Marie-Antoinette, who acquired an ormolu-mounted jasper tazza by Pierre Gouthière for her boudoir around 1774-75, Maria Feodorovna who, in 1799, purchased a garniture for the state bedchamber in Mikhailovsky Palace and the King of Poland, who acquired mounted vases from Dulac for Lazienski Palace, Warsaw. Dulac's business' popularity can be measured not only by his extensive clientele but also by his assets; in 1743, at the height of his career, his furniture and effects were valued at 24,000 livres.

With their heavy laurel swags, bold acanthus mounts and pronounced masks, these vases are prime examples of the goût grec style, an early and robust version of neoclassicism and the Louis XVI style that was popular in the 1760s. Interestingly, it appears that most of Dulac's vases of this form, but often with different mounts, were blue and green ones seem to be more rare. However, a single green vase of this shape mounted with the same satyr masks and swags as the present lot was sold Christie's New York, October 21, 1997, lot 21.