A FINE AND RARE ORMOLU-MOUNTED CELADON CHARGER WITH LOTUS BLOSSOM

Description:

China, the porcelain Yuan/ early Ming dynasty, the mounts German or French, 18th c.
D. 43,8 cm/ H. 15,5 cm
Acquired from an old Bavarian noble collection by the present owner
The preference for celadon porcelain with ormolu mounts seems to have been at its peak in Paris in the 1750s. Lazare Duvaux, for example, records numerous purchases of such porcelains by leading collectors in his Livre-Journal; among his richest customers was the Marquis de Voyer d'Argenson, who, as Courajod reports, "achetait surtout chez Duvaux de la porcelaine Céladon garnie de pieds & de montures de bronze doré. Moreover, he commissioned Duvaux, as the owner of selected pieces, to mount them. Celui-ci le mit en rapport avec le célèbre modeleur Duplessis...' (Livre-Journal de Lazare Duvaux, 2 vols. ed. L. Courajod, Paris, 1873, p. XXXIII). D'Argenson's most expensive purchase of this type is recorded in September 1750 (no. 601): 'Deux gros vases de porcelaine Céladon, montés par Duplessis en bronze doré d'ormolu 3000 l.'. The descriptions are all far too brief to allow definite identification, but certainly this purchase of mounted celadon is surpassed in value only by that of the famous collector Gaignat, who bought "Deux urnes de porcelaine céladon, couvertes, montées en bronze dori d'or moulu par Duplessis, 2920 l." on 16 March 1754. Gaignat's collection was sold after his death in 1768, and the catalogue written by Poirier contained twelve mounted pieces of celadon - Small restoration in gold lacquer at the rim, slightly warped