Pair of Lidded Vases

The marchands-merciers of eighteenth-century Paris devised ingenious ways to adapt rare and exotic materials to tempt their clients. The dealers purchased lacquer, porcelain, and hardstone vessels or panels and sent them to craftsmen with explicit orders to create interesting and decorative designs by combining the objects with new elements. Combining porcelain with gilt bronze was one of the dealer's main activities. Here Chinese vases were cut down to create smaller lidded vessels used for decoration. The central area of the porcelain was cut and removed, and the shoulders of the vases were joined to their lids with gilt bronze in order to make larger covers.