Pair Of Sèvres Porcelain Vases From The Napoleon III Period, Signed By Abel Schilt, 1870, Cherub

An important pair of porcelain vases from the Sèvres Manufactory, decorated with remarkable polychrome paintings signed by Abel Schilt (1820–1880) and embellished with a gilded bronze mount.

Shaped like balusters, the vases feature a deep Sèvres blue background, accented with gilded fillets and ornaments as well as white and red enamel beads.

The sides are entirely adorned with hand-painted scenes depicting cupids and putti in rural landscapes.
The small winged figures are depicted playing, resting, or handling bows and arrows, amidst flowers, drapery, and foliage.
These delicate compositions reflect the 19th-century taste for 18th-century French painting and are fully in keeping with the style in which Abel Schilt distinguished himself at Sèvres.

The paintings are framed by a rich gilded bronze mount.
A wide openwork frieze of scrollwork, foliage, and rosettes crowns each vase.
The lower part of the vases is set within a wreath of large gilded bronze acanthus leaves.

The set rests on tall fluted pedestals topped with openwork bases, also in gilded bronze.

Sèvres Manufactory, second half of the 19th century, probably around 1860–1880.

Height: 32.5 cm.

In good overall condition. Note: a bronze ribbon bow is missing from one of the vases. Some slight signs of age and wear.

François-Philippe-Abel Schilt (1820–1880) was a painter at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory from 1847 to 1880. The son of porcelain painter Louis-Pierre Schilt, he was also a student of the painter Constant Troyon. A particularly skilled figure painter, he specialized notably in gallant scenes and compositions inspired by Watteau and 18th-century French painting. He exhibited at the Salon and was among the artists from the Imperial Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory featured at the 1867 World’s Fair.