Of gilt bronze and polychrome champlevé enamel. Each vase of tapering form decorated with stylised foliate and floral decoration against a red scaled ground, the whole raised on three shaped scrolling pierced legs, each leg decorated to the sides with scrolling tendrils and terminating in a claw foot.

Marks:
Engraved signature:
F. Barbedienne

These monumental vases, fitted with metal linings to create jardinieres, are among the more remarkable creations of the celebrated Parisian bronzier Barbedienne. Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-92) began his career as a bronze founder in 1838 when he entered into partnership with Achille Collas (1795-1858).1 Over the course of the nineteenth-century Barbedienne became the most successful founder in Paris. The firm pioneered a number of innovative manufacturing techniques and won a series of honors at the great international exhibitions of the second half of the century. An article devoted to Barbedienne in Harper's Magazine, June-November 1886, shows an illustration of a vase almost identical to the present piece (figure 1).

The technique of champlevé enamel, which is used to stunning effect on the present vases, was first adopted by Barbedienne for the London International Exhibition of 1862.2 The firm showed a range of enamel wares which borrowed the stylized floral decoration and ancient forms of Byzantine decorative arts, as well as 16th century Middle Eastern motifs. The decoration of a related Barbedienne vase and tripod exhibited at 1862, now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, shares with the present piece the use of scrolling and boldly colored stylized foliate shapes. According to Islamic Art specialist Irene Momatz, the decorative scheme of the present vases is "based on a 16th century tile motif with peonies and saz leaves against a background of fish-scales (figure 2). It is common to find these floral motifs in that period and [while] there are no particular artists who signed their names, the tiles usually carry the name of the Mosque for which they were made." Such decoration can be compared to the innovative decorative designs of contemporaries Owen Jones and Viollet-le-Duc, both of whom took an eclectic approach to ornament, drawing on middle eastern and oriental sources, as well as those of European design. "Non-Western designs influenced ornament, form, materials, and techniques. The complexities of geometric design associated with Islamic decorative arts and architecture became a source of inspiration. Jones, a proponent of Islamic design, stressed the visual importance of stylizing forms inspired by nature."3

The technique of champlevé used on the present vase is rarely found on such a scale due to the difficulty and expense involved in its production. The process, which Barbedienne himself erroneously referred to as cloisonné in his 1862 catalogue, involves the hollowing out of a metal surface to leave thin metal ridges and a series of depressions into which colored enamel is poured. Barbedienne developed the traditional champlevé technique further by casting the raised ridges with the body of the vessel4 which helped him to conceive of objects the size of the present vases. Nevertheless, the enameling itself remained a highly skilled and much prized art. At the 1862 exhibition, one English critic described Barbedienne's enamel pieces as 'among the most beautiful objects'5 on show.

It is highly likely that the present vases are the work of the ornamentiste Constant Sévin (1821-88)6 who together with the chaser-ornamentiste Désiré Attarge was "responsible for some Barbedienne's most remarkable pieces."7 Sevin joined Barbedienne in 1855 and enjoyed a long and successful career with the firm. He was awarded a medal at the London Exhibition of 1862, 'for the high artistic excellence displayed in the furniture designed by him and exhibited by Barbedienne' and in 1867 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the great Paris Exhibition.8

Measurements:
Height: 57 1/4" (146cm); Width: 18 3/4" (47 1/2cm); Depth: 17 1/4" (44cm).

Footnotes: 1. Simon Jervis (ed), Art & Design in Europe and America 1800-1900, London, 1987, p112. 2. ibid., p112 3. Oshinsky, Sara J. "Exoticism in the Decorative Arts". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/exot/hd_exot.htm (October 2004). 4. Jervis, p112 5. 'Gossip About The International Exhibition', The Builder, 31 May 1862, p384. 6. Clive Wainwright, 'A Barbedienne Mirror: Reflections on Nineteenth-Century Cross-Channel Taste', National Art Collections Fund Review, 1992, p88. 7. ibid., p500 8. Simon Jervis (ed), Art & Design in Europe and America 1800-1900, London, 1987, p136.