Vase

possibly by 31 December 1766
Sèvres sold December 31, 1766 to Henri-Léonard Jean-Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792), Paris [1]

by 13 May 1774
Sèvres sold May 13, 1774 to Élisabeth-Théodore Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1712-1781), Sèvres and Paris [2]

- 1794
Located in 1794, in the collection of Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï (1747-1794), Paris [3]

1794 – 1796
La Commission Temporaire des Arts, confiscated from the family of Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï [4]

1796 – 1797
Family of Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï, restituted from Infantado, Paris, France [5]

1797 -
Sold Le Brun, “Catalogue de Tableaux de Diverses Écoles; Groupes & Figures en Bronze, & Bronze doré, Porcelaines anciennes, du Japon, de la Chine & de Sèvres: Provenant du Cabinet du Feu Citoyen de Nicolaï”, May 25, 1797, Paris, no. 57 [6]

c.1802 – 1965
Edward, Viscount Lascelles (1764-1814), Harewood House, London, England; Earls of Harewood, Yorkshire, England, by inheritance [7]

1965 -
Sold Christie's, “Highly Important Sèvres Porcelain, Chinese-Mounted Porcelain and Fine English Furniture, The Property of the Right Honourable The Earl of Harewood”, July 1, 1965, London, no. 26 ; bought by John Barry, London [8]

2009/11/17
In sale, "Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures, and Gold Boxes," Christie’s, London, November 17, 2009, lot no. 148 [9]

2009 - 2022/23
Private collection, purchased at auction [10]

by January 2023 - 9/18/2023
Connoisseur of Art, Paris, France, purchased from a private collection [11]

2023 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Connoisseur of Art, Paris, France (Jean-François Bastien) [12]


Notes:
This vase is one of a set along with a pair of vases (80:2000.1, .2) that shares the same provenance. The primary source for this provenance is an article entitled "Une Exceptionelle Garniture de Sèvres" by Vincent Bastien, independent scholar, Paris, France, in the journal L'Estampille/L'Object d'Art, 462 (2010): 54-5.

[1] Rosalind Savill and Anna Dewsnap," Sevres from the Harewood Collection," Harewood House Trust, 2014, cat. 54, p.45.

[2] Elisabeth-Thèodore Le Tonnelier de Breteuil was the chancellor and keeper of the Seals of the Duc d'Orleans, and also an abbot. He purchased both vases as part of a larger five-piece garniture when he took up residence in the Pavillon de Breteuil in Sèvres.

[3] Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï was a French magistrate and the president of La Chambre des Comptes. A supporter of Louis XVI, he was guillotined on July 7, 1794.

[4] La Commission Temporaire des Arts seized many works of art and furniture, including the five-piece garniture, from Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï's home on 8 Rue des Enfants-Rouges after his execution. The garniture was recorded in the Commission's records on October 13, 1794. They were moved to a storage facility, dépôt de L'Infantado, on July 17, 1796.

[5] The Temporary Arts Commission was formed in 1793 to preserve "worthy" works of art and buildings remaining from the Ancien Régime that possessed aesthetic or historical value. The Temporary Arts Commission was formed in reaction to widespread acts of iconoclasm during and after the French Revolution [Idzerda, Stanley J. "Iconoclasm during the French Revolution." "The American Historical Review" Vol. 60, No. 1 (Oct. 1954), 13-26]. The complete garniture was restituted to the family of Aymar-Charles-Marie de Nicolaï on July 24, 1796.

[6] The garniture was sold at an auction organized by Jean-Baptiste-Pierre LeBrun (1748-1813) to an unknown buyer ["Catalogue de Tableaux de Diverses Écoles; Groupes & Figures en Bronze, & Bronze doré, Porcelaines anciennes, du Japon, de la Chine & de Sève: Provenant du Cabinet du Feu Citoyen de Nicolaï" Paris, France. May 25, 1797, lot no. 57].

[7] It is possible that the garniture was purchased in France by Viscount Lascelles in the early nineteenth century, possibly as early as 1802, when the cessation of hostilities between France and England (Treaty of Amiens) inspired English collectors to travel to Paris to take advantage of the dispersals of great French collections ["Foreword," Christie's, London, "Highly Important Sèvres Porcelain, Chinese-Mounted Porcelain and Fine English Furniture," July 1, 1965, unpaginated; and Christie's, London, "Magnificent French Furniture and Works of Art," December 12, 2002, p.126].

[8] A Christie's catalogue from the 1965 sale is annotated in handwritten note: "purchased by Simpkins," next to the entry for lot no. 25 [copy of annotated page in SLAM document files]. Research has not yet determined whether Simpkins was a firm or individual buyer. Lord Harewood sold a number of pieces of Sèvres porcelain at this auction. The five-piece garniture was sold as three separate lots at this auction. The central vase (lot no. 26) was purchased by "Barry", and the two bottles and covers (lot no. 22) were purchased by "Williams" ["Highly Important Sèvres Porcelain, Chinese-Mounted Porcelain and Fine English Furniture" Christie's, London, July 1, 1965, lot nos. 22, 25, and 26].

[9] In sale "Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures, and Gold Boxes," Christie’s, November 17, 2009, London, lot no. 148.

[10] The vase was lent to the exhibition Sevres from the Harewood Collection at Harewood House in 2014. See Rosalind Savill and Anna Dewsnap," Sevres from the Harewood Collection," Harewood House Trust, 2014, cat. 54, p.45.

[11] Per email from Connoisseur of Art to SLAM curator David Conradsen, dated January 30, 2023.

[12] Invoice dated September 11, 2023 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 18, 2023.