Elephant Candelabrum Vase (Vase à Tête d'Eléphant)
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres · 1757–58 · Art Institute of Chicago
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From the museum
This model is one of the more exotic forms created by Jean-Claude Duplessis. The elephants’ trunks originally supported double candle sockets that are now missing. The idea of combining elephant heads with a vase may have derived from a Ming dynasty Chinese vase or a Meissen candelabrum. The Sèvres painter Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand accentuated the sensuous qualities of the elephants by framing their brown eyes with pink lids and long eyelashes.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Details
- Maker
- Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (French, founded 1740), Design attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis (French, c. 1695–1774), Painted by Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand (French, active 1758–1781)
- Date
- 1757–58
- Medium
- Soft-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, and gilding
- Dimensions
- 38.5 × 25 × 14.7 cm (15 1/8 × 9 13/16 × 5 3/4 in.)
- Place of origin
- Sèvres
- Held by
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · On view · Gallery 234
- Credit line
- Joseph Maier and Arthur Lewis Liebman Memorial: Gift of Kenneth J. Maier, M.D.
Image: Art Institute of Chicago, CC0
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