French 18th Century Louis XVI Ormolu Vases with Handles and Relief Putto on Black Belgian Marble Bases, Set of 2

This pair of French Louis XVI ormolu handled vases date back to late 18th century (1700s) These exceptional camapana urn shaped gilt bronze vases were created with the ancient traditional technique of the lost-wax casting (à la cire perdue) and mercury gilding that allows a great precision and finesse in the details.
The body feature a Greco-Roman inspired Bacchanalia scene, the low relief frieze is wonderfully hand chieseled in the round. Musicians cherubs or putto are playing and dancing behind a chariot pulled by a goat. Grape and vine leaves casted and chiseled in high relief adorn the necks while the top rim displays a decorative wrap around band with egg and dart pattern.
Gadrooned foliate-cast hammered feet complete the impressive cast artwork, all signs of high quality of execution by a master bronze worker. The handles with an essential shape but refined workmanship attach to the mouth of the vase and run along the entire body. The vases rest on a molded Belgian black solid thick marble base.
These lavish vases will make a statement in any home. They display a beautiful intricately detailed scenes and naturalistic representation of the various types of flowers and foliage.

The eye is immediately drawn to a wide range of alternating textures from the soft skin of cherubs' faces and bodies to a goat's rippled fur or horns. Incredible attention to details such as the fine veins of leaves. The gold of the mercury gilding is to die for, matte and smooth gold to increase its reflectance
all this was obtained thanks to the use of multiple tools and bronze gilding techniques. Both the manufacturing and the mercury gilding show that these artifacts are the work of master chiseller and gilder, very much in the style of Pierre Gouthière.
Ormolu is the technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold–mercury amalgam to an object of bronze. The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold coating. The French refer to this technique as bronze doré and in English it is often referred to as gilt bronze. It is a finishing technique which adds an overall gold look to any object without the massive cost and impracticality of making an object out of solid gold. Mercury was outlawed in the 1830’s in France

Dimensions: H. 31 D.22 cm Marble base: 16x16 cm