Vase [1 of 3]

The vase hollandois nouveau ovale was first introduced at Sèvres in 1758 and remained in production until the 1780s. It is a variation of a shape introduced at Vincennes in 1754 known as a vase hollandois, which had a flat base with straight-sided angled walls at the upper section. The newer form had a lower section raised slightly on four feet and an upper section with walls that flared outward at the top-the whole being less heavy and more elegant than the earlier form. The name probably refers to the Dutch passion for flowering bulbs. The vase was made in two sections, the upper part intended to hold plants or bulbs in earth; the lower section for holding water, which could be added through the openings in the shoulder and would then be absorbed into the soil in the upper section through small holes in the base of that section (see Technical Notes). Although the factory's stock list for 1759 lists molds for the vase hollandois nouveau in both round and oval versions, most of the surviving examples are oval, and they were usually sold in pairs (see also cat. 79), though garnitures of three vases are known (see cat. 80).
This garniture is made up a single center vase in the fourth size and a pair of vases in the third size. The vases are richly decorated with an underglaze dark blue ground overlaid with elaborate gilded patterns framing large panels for reserve decoration on the front and back of each vase section. The reserves on the fronts of each of the upper sections are painted with peasant figures in rustic landscapes. The reserves on the backs of each of the upper sections are of the same size and shape as the front reserves, but painted with rustic landscapes without figures. The reserves on the fronts and backs of each lower section are all of the same shape and size and depict rustic landscapes without figures.
The gilded pattern surrounding the reserves on the fronts of each vase combines a trellis pattern and oeil de perdrix pattern (partridge eye-a circle of dots enclosing a single dot) forming elaborate frames around each reserve. The gilded pattern on the back of each section has a simple tooled band outlining each reserve surrounded by a combined caillouté (pebble-like shapes) and vermiculé (irregular worm or amoebalike shapes) pattern. The narrow sides of each section are decorated with a similar pattern of caillouté and vermiculé. Consequently, the fronts of each vase are marked by the more elaborate figural scenes and more intricate gilding than is found on the backs. The caillouté and vermiculé patterns were chiefly used in the late 1750s and early 1760s, sometimes combined as they are on these vases.
The peasant scenes represented on the front of each vase are typical of subjects inspired by Dutch and Flemish seventeenth-century genre painting, and such picturesque images were fashionable in many media (including tapestry, painting, and snuff boxes) in the mid-eighteenth century. The detail of the seated couple on the right vase is also found on a tray, a plateau Courteille (1759), painted by Vielliard. Variations of the same detail are found on other vases painted by different artists at Sèvres, including Charles-Nicolas Dodin (1759), Antoine Caton (1760), and Jean-Louis Morin (1760). Vielliard's figures are less precisely delineated and sometimes more awkwardly rendered than are figures painted by these other artists; nevertheless, his landscapes have a charm that remained popular at the manufactory throughout his career.
Only one other garniture of three vases of this same shape is known. It dates from around 1758-1759, has a pink ground with landscapes painted in the reserves. and may be the set noted in the sale records of 1761, one vase for 192 livres, two for 156 livres each. With their figural scenes and elaborate gilding, the vases in the Huntington garniture would probably have sold for about twice as much.
The early provenance for this garniture is not known. Although the vases have not been traced in the manufactory's archives, the decoration on each of them is so similar and complementary that it is reasonable to assume that they were conceived as a garniture of three. The set was broken up at some point, as the two side vases appeared in separate English sales in the 1890s; the three vases were probably reunited by the Duveen firm before being sold to George J. Gould in the early twentieth century.