COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

Carlton Hobbs. Catalogue Number Three, London, 1992, no. 10
Exh. cat., Porphyre. La Pierre Pourpre des Ptolémées aux Bonaparte, Paris, 2003, p.182

The manufacture formed by the partnership between Joseph Fabri and François-Paul Urtzschneider started producing ceramics in 1792 at Sarreguemines, a mills town in the Moselle. In the 1809 Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie, they were awarded a gold medal for their vases and attracted the attention of Baron Vivant-Denon, Napoleon's foremost art advisor. Consequently, the Emperor commissioned an important set of objets d'art from Fabri and Urtzschneider, including eight pairs of torchères and twenty-two pairs of vases (the latter of four different designs), at a total cost of 120,000 francs. In the French archives, these are listed as "Vases en matières imitant les pierres dures opaques, savoir le basalte brun, le porphyre brun, le porphyre brun et rouge et le porphyre brun et blanc, dans les formes et ornaments en bronze doré conformes aux dessins n. 1,2 & 4".

Sarreguemines pieces can be found in the Palais de Trianon in Versailles, another one in the Musée National de Céramique in Sèvres while a pair is in the Château de Malmaison and in the Palazzo Reale in Naples. Also in the Château de Fontainebleau, in the Musée Marmottan in Paris (illustrated in Y. Brayer et. al., Musée Marmottan. L'Empire, Paris, 1977, p.54)

The ormolu mounts which ornate these Sarreguemines wares were almost certainly supplied by the bronzier Pierre-Maximilien Delafontaine (1777-1860). Delafontaine was established in Paris in the 13 rue Saint Honoré where he also sold the Sarreguemines items (see A. Lefébure, Un bronzier fidèle au néo-classicisme: Pierre-Maximilien Delafontaine, in Dossier de l'art, no. 5, December 1991, p.26-35).

A Pair of Sarreguemines vases, only 18 inches (45.5 cm.) high, were sold at Christie's in London on December 7, 2006, Sale 7288, Lot 16 Sold for £72,000 ($141,768 USD). Click here to view Christie's London Lot 16 from Sale 7288

Description:

A Spectacular Museum Quality Pair of French 19th Century Figural Ormolu Mounted Sarreguemines Colbalt-Ruby Faïence Ceramic with Parcel-Gilt Decorations of Winged Dragons. The side ormolu mounts each with a figure of a male mask and the ornate ormolu base each with a set of four roaring lions. Circa: 1881

Stamped: SARREGUEMINES 1881

Height: 38 1/2 inches (97.8 cm)
Width: 22 inches (55.9 cm)
Depth: 18 inches (45.7 cm)

Ref.: A1343