POSSIBLY BY ALFRED ANDRÉ, PARIS, CIRCA 1860

Details

A PAIR OF RENAISSANCE-STYLE JEWELED AND ENAMELED GOLD VASES
POSSIBLY BY ALFRED ANDRÉ, PARIS, CIRCA 1860
Each on square plinth, the bases set with ruby collets, with strapwork panels above, the blue guilloché enamel body overlain with white scrolls set with emerald, ruby and sapphire collets, with waisted neck and handles formed as a merman and a mermaid set with further ruby collets and holding pendant pearls
4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905), Paris.
Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949), Paris.
Confiscated from the above following the Nazi occupation of Paris by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg after May 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume (ERR no. R 3607 a and b).
Transferred to Schloss Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau.
Repatriated to France October 18, 1945 and restituted to the Rothschild Collection.
Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild (1914-1999), Tel Aviv, sold
Christie's, London, 14 December 2000, lot 67.

Rothschild inventory nos. E. de R. 293-4.

Brought to you by

Becky MacGuire

bmacguire@christies.com +1 212 636 2211

Lot Essay

These vases appear in a watercolor by Jean-Baptiste Fortune de Fournier (1798-1864), an artist who worked for Napoleon III and exhibited at the Salons of 1843 and 1864. Eight interior views of The Tuilleries are recorded by him as well as a portrait of Napoleon III. The watercolor illustrating the Rothschild vases, as well as three others illustrating mostly jewelry, was included in the sale of some of the contents of the château de Ferrières, Baron Alphonse's home.

The design for a similar base of a vase by Vasters is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.3275-1919). In the opinion of Miriam Krautwurst, Vasters restored an object for which he had designed the base, while the objects themselves appear more likely to be the work of Alfred André.

More from Exceptional Sale

View All