These superbly elegant vases epitomize the taste for neoclassical style in the 1770’s Paris using an Antiquity inspired shape, and an unusual one in this case, known as nacelle or navette. This refined taste is here underlined by the fashion for mounted objects through embellishing the marble with finely cast, chased and burnished gilt bronze mounts, which were also synonym of luxury and emphasise the qualities of the material.

An identical pair, previously in the collects ion of Marquis de Chapponay, was sold from the Wildenstein collects ion (Christie’s London, 14 December 2005, lot 383, £74,400) and one other pair, with different mounts, was sold at Christie's London, 30 May 1968, lot 42 from Lord Hillindgon’s collects ion. One other pair, of similar shape and in alabaster but different mounts, sold Replica Shoes ’s Paris, L’œil d’un collects ionneur, 5th November 2014, lot 222 (€181,500). A grey granite pot-pourri vase without fluting, which belonged to the collects ion of Léonce Melchior de Vogüe, sold at Christie’s Monaco on the 19th June 1999, lot 83.

The shape of our vases, usually called nacelle (‘basket’), may also be found under other names in eighteenth-century inventories, such as nef, cassolette and vase oblong. This shape is inspired by Roman models from the mid-seventeenth century, which had been re-transcribed by the Abbé Benedetti (1610-1690 - Desseins de sept vazes de différentes formes de l’abbé Benedetti, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cabinet des estampes). Benedetti was an official in Rome, first for Cardinal Mazarin and then for Louis XIV, to whom he sent designs for potential purchases in furniture, fabric, and antique statues.

This particular shape, without lids, was also produced in Sèvres porcelain in the decade of 1760, becoming known as vases Choiseul as the form was apparently inspired by a Roman vase owned by Étienne François, duc de Choiseul (1719-1785), one of the most sophisticated collects ors of his t.mes .

Vases in marble and stone were highly fashionable in the 18th century – they were a staple for every sizeable collects ion. Among collects ors of stone vases around 1770, two of the most celebrated were Pierre-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776) and the Duc d’Aumont (1709-1782). The catalogue for the sale that followed the Duke’s death states this fact clearly in its introduction, writing that “Il est peu d'ornement plus imposant, plus intéressant dans l'arrangement d'un cabinet, que celui qu'on peut y introduire par la distribution bien entendue de vases en marbre et de colonnes de belles proportions”.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the principal buyers at this sale, which also demonstrates how carefully these pieces were chosen. These vases often have bronze mounts by some of the greatest bronze workers of the era, such as Pierre Gouthière, who worked on fifty pieces for the Duke d’Aumont.

These vases were objects of the highest luxury, not only on account of the high cost of the stones but also for the difficulty of the technique required. Some vases were carved from rare marble or porphyry columns that dated back to antiquity and were sourced from Rome and all over Italy, but pristine white marble such as the present lot was also highly considered. These distant origins created a more direct rendering of the ancient world, which experienced an aesthetic revival during the later years of Louis XV’s reign in a reaction against the dominant Rococo style.

The sale of Randon de Boisset’s collects ion after his death gives an indication of how the vases in these collects ions would have been presented: they were placed on large console tables within a hallway, or on the second floor of a town house. The walls of these rooms would have been covered with green silk or hung with Dutch paintings of the highest value. Each table was adorned with a marble top, the rarity of which could end up rivalling the vases that rested on it. Each was also framed with columns or pedestals.