A gilt-bronze mounted celadon ewer, the mounts Vienna, in the manner of the Würth family late 18th century, the porcelain Japanese second half 18th century

The Würth Dynasty were a prolific family of goldsmiths, bronzeurs and jewellers who, from the 1730’s, came to dominate the silversmithing landscape in Vienna. Ignaz Joseph Würth (1742-1792) was particularly solicited by the Imperial family and was the creator of the silver service, a true Neoclassical manifesto, given by Maria Theresa to her daughter Maria Christina and her husband Albert, Duke of Saxe-Teschen. By the end of the century the family came to be “regarded as the best European goldsmiths of their era” (W. Koeppe, Vienna circa 1780: An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered, 2010,p.17).

Ignaz Joseph is also the better recognised side of an industry of bronze pieces in Vienna, of which very little information is known. Attributed to him is a significant group of gilt bronze mounted Oriental porcelain in the Princely Collections of Liechtenstein with mounts dated of about 1775/1785. French inspired, these works have nonetheless a distinctive “provincial freshness of style”, as Clare Le Corbeiller puts it (J.P. O'Neill, (ed.), Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections, 1985, p.171), an attribute reflected in the present lot.

The unusual elongated leaves to the neck, the guilloche band – a motif of which I.J.Würth was particularly fond of – and the boldness of design and chasing of the handle, all recall the work of a silversmith and allow us to place this item in a Viennese production in the entourage of this gifted family.