A very rare Mennecy Ormolu Mounted Vase and Cover, the baluster vase pierced at the shoulder and applied with the flowering branches of rose bushes, resting on a rockwork base applied with a small child to one side pouring water from a jug, the reverse with a reclined sheep. Resting on a rococo scroll moulded ormolu base support, the cover with similar scrolled ormolu mounts.

The arcanist of this early manufactory was Francois Barbin (1691-1765) who experimented and developed the paste and glaze of his porcelain recipe under the patronage of Louis-Francois-Anne de Neufville, duc de Villeroy (1695- 1766). Barbin is known to have been experimenting with making porcelain, presumably under the protection of his illustrious patron in the late 1720’s and 1730’s. This is confirmed by a parish register of January 1737 which describes him as a maker of faience and porcelain. Manufacture of porcelain by Barbin under the patronage of the duc de Villeroy continued into the 1740’s and was known as Villeroy porcelain. The laws protecting royal monopolies in France were extremely far reaching and very strict and the Royal Porcelain manufactory established by Orry de Fulvy and Louis XV at nearby Vincennes was granted an exclusive monopoly to manufacture porcelain ‘in the manner of Saxony’. It was felt that the porcelain made by Barbin impinged upon the Royal Manufactory at Vincennes and he was made to cease production and all his manufactured porcelain was seized and sold by the authorities in 1748. The Villeroy works were then closed.

In 1750 Francois Barbin and his wife Marie-Marguerite Betrand together with other close members of their family and including their son Jean-Baptiste  moved to Mennecy away from the eyes of the authorities at Vincennes to continue the development and manufacture of porcelain under their patron the duc de Villeroy.

The manufactory sold these Mennecy wares  at a house owned by the family in the rue Saint-Honore in Paris. Mennecy porcelain develops in tandem with fashionable rococo designs of shape and form but it differs markedly to the products of the Vincennes manufactory for the reasons already given. The decoration is completely different and there is very little figural decoration or gilding to be found as this would contravene the Vincennes monopoly ruling. Some rare figural pieces, such as this vase, do however exhibit similarities to contemporary products made at Vincennes. The Vincennes manufactory had recently benefitted from the influence of the Court artist Francois Boucher, who had been asked to supply figural drawings as inspiration to the modellers at the royal porcelain manufactory at Vincennes. Pieces of Mennecy of this type of very rare figural ornamental form are hardly ever marked, presumably in order to hide the origins of their manufacture lest the interests of the monopoly authorities be aroused.

The paste and glaze of Mennecy porcelain of this period is extremely unguent and luscious in its tactility as well as exhibiting a delicious play of light on the surface of the glaze. The model and subject matter combines many elements of the rococo, the natural modelling of the flowers, the addition of a sheep and the gushing water. There is also however an element of fantasy in this combination of natural elements which transforms into the form of a potpourri vase and cover to scent the interior of a room. This combination of nature and fantasy captures perfectly the Arcadian frivolity that is the essence of rococo in terms of form and subject matter. The vase has been mounted in ormolu and rests on a series of graceful and interlocking asymmetrical scrolls. It is surmounted by a pierced ormolu cover conceived of further scrolls and an open flower finial.

Marks:

The Ormolu Mounted Collar on the top of the Vase signed on the inside 'TK' .    See thumbnail image for the initials on the ormolu mount.