Large Paris Porcelain Vase - Dagoty Manufacture - Empire Period

Slender in shape, it rests on a square base imitating gray marble, topped with a gilded pedestal. With a matte blue background, it is decorated with a frieze of palmettes and fleurons running under the shoulder, and adorned with a central oval medallion with a white background representing a bunch of shaded red and purplish grapes, accompanied by brown branches and green leaves. A lower band with a stylized geometric pattern underlines the base of the vase. The flared neck, richly gilded with burnished gold, is enhanced with a garland of vine leaves engraved with matte gold. The vase has two gilded scroll handles, resting on biscuit mascarons depicting the heads of bearded ancient divinities, probably Bacchus or a river god, in imitation of patinated bronze. Brand(s): NEANT - Vase of similar shape in ???????????????,Dimension(s): Height. 35 cm - Length. 17 cm,Condition(s): VERY GOOD CONDITION - Small repair of a crack at the base of a handle and restored chip on the upper edge of the vase - Repairs invisible to the naked eye,Period: EMPIRE.Pieces with imitations of patinated bronze have a very particular texture, mattness and visual depth, difficult to reproduce with the usual enamels and pigments of porcelain. Obtaining a realistic patina on a support as smooth and shiny as porcelain required precise firings, specific oxides, and rare know-how. The rendering had to simulate not only the color, but also the visual touch of aged metal, something that few Parisian manufacturers mastered. Porcelain is historically associated with light, whiteness, shine, even transparency. Imitating a dark, dense, and opaque material like bronze was unnatural. The imitation of bronze is part of a scholarly register: that of Antiquity, Etruscan or Roman bronzes, sculptures of Bacchus or Apollo. The grape decoration is also particularly interesting. By nature, the grape is a Bacchic symbol: it refers to Bacchus/Dionysus, god of wine, celebration, fertility and generous nature. Under the Empire, where Antiquity was glorified, this reference was not trivial: it expressed both wealth, fertility, and a form of controlled exaltation, in accordance with the neoclassical ideal of imperial power. This vase thus becomes a piece with a dual interpretation: both decorative and scholarly, but also deeply symbolic. The grape motif refers to Bacchus, divinity of the vine and wine, but also to the notions of abundance, celebration, fertility and knowledge. It embodies the harmonious union between ancient mythology and naturalist observation, dear to the neoclassical aesthetic of the early 19th century.PAYMENT and TRANSPORTPAYMENTS ACCEPTED BANK TRANSFER / PAYPAL / BANK TRANSFER / CB online or by CHECK.PARCELS WILL BE POSTED WITHIN 4 DAYS. GROUPED SHIPPING POSSIBLE IN CASE OF PURCHASE OF MULTIPLE ITEMS.