France, circa 1780

This vase, of singular shape, follows a classical form but, with its elongated socle, seems to fit more in the French design tradition of Louis XVI period. Furthermore, the unusual type of granite employed here suggests a possible French origin of the stone, as quarrying of local granites were actively promoted during this period.

The popularity of vases in precious marbles and hardstones was a trend that reached its peak during the Louis XVI period, many of which would be mounted with bronzes. Particularly sought after were marble specimens dating from antiquity such as Egyptian porphyry and granite, imported from Italy by prominent Parisian collectors and connoisseurs like the Marquis de Marigny, the Comte d'Angiviller and the Duc d'Aumont.

The rarity, high cost and logistical challenges involved with procuring antique stone in Italy led the Menus Plaisirs to seek more local sources, and in 1768 suitable veins near Remiremont in the Vosges region of Eastern France were discovered. A manufacture priviligiée was established and soon opened an outlet in Paris serving as a 'magasin ou dépôt des ouvrages en roches, composées de granits, granitelles, jaspes, serpentins et porphyres'. In 1774 the architect François-Joseph Bélanger, who worked for the Menus Plaisirs and also designed mounts for vases in the Duc d'Aumont's personal collection, observed that domestically exploited porphyry and granite was of the same quality as that of Ancient Rome: '...nous avons dans nos provinces une partie des marbres que les Grecs et les Romains allaient chercher dans la Haute-Egypte et que les porphyres et les granits se trouvent chez nous dans l’Alsace […] cette matière est parfaitement de la même nature que celle dont nous avons des fragments d’antiquité'.

Indigenous stone was actively promoted in Paris by art dealers including Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun (d.1813) and the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Feuillet (d.1806). Auction catalogues from the period indicate vases made of French-quarried marble appear to have been valued among eminent collectors by the 1780s. Lot 1 in the partial sale of the collection of the Duchesse de Mazarin, the niece of the Duc d'Aumont on 10 December 1781 following her premature death earlier that year, was a large vase 'de belle forme & d'un beau poli de Granit d'Alsace à fond rouge', and the 1797 auction collection of the financier Grimod de la Reynière (d.1793) included as lots 81 and 82 two pairs of vases in the 'belle matière' of 'Granit des Vosges imitant le granit rose oriental'.