A pair of French Régence gilt-bronze mounted Japanese porcelain pots-pourris, the porcelain Arita, circa 1700, the mounts circa 1720

Among the various types of European and Oriental porcelain available on the Parisian art market in the 18th century, Japanese Arita porcelain—particularly pieces with Imari decoration—were the most expensive and sought-after by the great collectors of the time. These vases, of considerable value, were sometimes mounted in silver during the reign of Louis XIV and at the beginning of the Régence; others received, in the early years of Louis XV’s reign, fine mountings of richly chased gilt-bronze.

Thus, the two vases presented here are adorned with elegant gilt-bronze mounts that highlight them and transform them into precious pot-pourri vases. The decoration consists of medallions depicting figures in red, black, and gold, arranged among gilded flowering branches on a white background with stylized blue crackle patterns. This is one of the most unusual examples; the only other known piece is a covered bowl and its stand, fitted with an identical Parisian silver mount, sold by Christie’s Monaco, 16 June, 2001, lot 594.

Other Imari or Arita vases mounted as pot-pourri vases have been documented, notably a silver-mounted bowl now in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art (Mounted Oriental Porcelain, edited by Francis Watson. exh. cat. International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1986, p. 56, cat. no. 14, ill.); a pair of covered vases with gilt-bronze mounts, formerly in the collection of Jacques Doucet (Paris, Me Lair-Dubreuil, 7-8 June, 1912, lot 210); finally, a pot-pourri with an openwork neck, similar in style, formerly in the collection of Lucienne Fribourg (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 19 April, 1969, lot 61).