Vase (Vase étrusque à rouleau)

This vase is monumental, standing about four and a half feet tall, or just under a metre and a half. It is made of hard-paste porcelain, a fine white clay fired at very high heat. The porcelain is decorated with enamel, which is colored, glassy paint fused onto the surface, and with gilding, which means gold applied in a thin layer. Gilded bronze is part of the piece as well. Its decoration includes flowers, plant patterns, birds, and cameos, which are small images, often oval, that stand out from their background. It belongs to the Empire style, the look of France under Napoleon.

The vase came from the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, which was founded in 1756 and is still working today. Several people shared the work. Charles Percier designed the model, meaning the shape of the vase. Alexandre-Theodore Brogniart designed its decoration. Gilbert Drouet painted the flowers and ornament, and Christophe-Ferdinand Caron painted the birds. The design was begun around 1810, and the vase is dated 1813. It was not finished and released from the manufactory until 1814, so it took years to complete.

This vase was begun under Napoleon I but finished only after his defeat and the return of the Bourbon monarchy. The new king, Louis XVIII, saw how useful such a magnificent object could be in diplomacy. He gave it to Viscount Castlereagh, the British foreign secretary. Castlereagh played a key role in rebalancing power in Europe at the Congress of Vienna, so the gift was likely a strategic attempt to win British favor. Look a little longer at the painted flowers and birds, and think of them as part of a political gesture.