Pair of Vases

From the mid-1600s onwards, larger quantities of porcelain from China and Japan began to be imported into Europe. In the 1700s, dealers of luxury goods called marchands-merciers purchased the porcelain directly at auction or from the East Indies companies and passed it to metalworkers to decorate. Often the porcelain was modified to take the mounts, sometimes creating completely new forms. Originally, these Chinese vases would have been about six inches (fifteen centimeters) taller than they are now. A Parisian craftsman, following the instructions of a *marchand-mercier,*cut down the vases and fitted them with the elaborate gilt bronze mounts to suit the French taste for handles and Rococo shapes. Scholars know that the mounts were made between 1745 and 1749 because of the small crowned C stamp on them.