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Left: Pair of vases, France (probably Paris), about 1820. Hard-paste porcelain decorated in polychrome enamels and gilding; ht: 28 ¾”, wd: 12”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Miss Clara Endicott Sears . Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Gilbert Stuart, Portrait of David Sears Jr. (1815), oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

To minimize competition, the king enacted laws that severely restricted the activities of other porcelain manufacturers, but as the porcelain industry began to have a positive impact on the French economy, Old Paris porcelain manufacturers eventually enjoyed more latitude in their operations. Many Old Paris porcelain artisans also had their own patrons from the French nobility, catering quickly to changing styles and customs. The French Revolution had severely affected the porcelain industry in Paris, with its attacks against the wealthy aristocracy. The result was the proliferation of other factories, whose autonomy allowed them to finally free themselves from the established monopoly held for years by Sèvres.

19th C. Boston residence of David Sears, Jr., now the Somerset Club

This pair of ornate mounted vases on pedestals flanked by gilt handles in the form of winged female busts was ordered from Paris in 1820, by Bostonian, David Sears Jr. (1787-1871). They were to decorate his new Boston residence, on Beacon Hill, designed by Alexander Parris in 1819. Today, the building serves as the home of the prestigious, Somerset Club. David Sears Jr. had earlier inherited a tremendous estate from his father, amassed during the China Trade. The vases were later bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1960, by his descendant, Clara Endicott Sears.

François Gerard, Portrait of Empress Joséphine of France (1895). Private Collection

While Mr. and Mrs. David Sears were living in Europe between 1811-1814, they spent time in Paris, frequenting the circle of Empress Josephine. There, they likely admired the elegantly mounted porcelains they saw in and around the city. [1] It has been suggested that this pair of vases was formerly “from the possession of the Empress Josephine of France, the wife of Napoleon the First, acquired at the breaking up of her, Château de Malmaison…” [2] However, we know from memorandums from David Sears that he requested from Paris “…two large Porcelain vases to place in the niches—The price limited to 500 francs each.” [3] The association with a pair of vases from Malmaison may have been perpetuated by the 1886, Memoir of the Honorable David Sears, stating that he “ornamented the original doorway of his new house in Beacon Street with a pair of beautiful white marble vases saved from the wreck of Malmaison.” [4]

The model of the MFA vases was most likely made in the factory founded by Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast (1754–1817) and later managed by his sons. Their creations was introduced at the 1819 “Exposition des Produits des Manufactures” and again at the 1823 Exhibition, when King Louis XVIII purchased two of them. [5] According to critics, “the Nast brothers won the highest award at the [Paris] Exhibition of 1819, as well as personal congratulations from Louis XVIII. They had been displaying some outstanding pieces…[including] monumental vases.” [6]

A. Garvise, Vue de la Malmaison No. II, Paris, hand-colored engraving (circ., early 19th C.)

Derived from the Greek amphorae, the elegant antique form of these vases demonstrates the talent and skill of the Nast workshop. Although unmarked, the extensive use of gilding and the richly-painted large reserves depicting pastoral and Classical scenes on are typical of French porcelain of the 1820s when ornamental vases used to decorate mantels became fashionable. [7] The matte and duller gilding of the handles, the lower section of the body, and the stem of the foot is achieved by applying gilding to unglazed porcelain and emphasizes the painted reliefs. The quality of the painted and gilt decoration and the technical feat of execution entirely out of porcelain, without the additional support of bronze mounts for the delicate handles, are all characteristic of the style of the Nast brothers. [8]

Future galleries dedicated to 19th century decorative arts will highlight the MFA’s unparalleled holdings of European ceramics.

by Rebecca Tilles, Contributing Writer

Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate in decorative arts and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has assisted with the exhibitions “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815” (2007) and “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection” (2009). She holds a BA in French and French Cultural Studies from Wellesley College and an MA in European Decorative Arts from The Bard Graduate Center in New York.

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[1] Milo M. Naeve and Lynn Springer Roberts, A Decade of Decorative Arts: The Antiquarian Society of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Institute, 1986), p. 70.

[2] Wendy A. Cooper, Classical Taste in America, 1800-1840 (New York: Baltimore Museum of Art and Abbeville Press, 1993), p. 43.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Dernières Acquisitions du Département des Objets d’Art du Louvre 1990-1994” (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1995), p. 262-264.

[6] Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Porcelain of Paris 1770-1850 (New York: Walker, 1972), p. 101.

[7] Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, “Paris porcelain in America,” in The Magazine Antiques (April 1998), p. 554.

[8] “Un Age d’Or des Arts Décoratifs 1814-1848 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux,1991), p. 144-145.

Pair, monopodia supported armchairs, likely Irish (Dublin), c. 1810. Gilded wood, modern upholstery; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift, Horace Wood Brock. Photo © MFA, Boston.

  The Regency era in the United Kingdom is the period between 1811 — when King George III was deemed insane and unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent — and 1820, when the Prince Regent became George IV on the death of his father. The term Regency is therefore used to describe works of art produced in England between the late 1790s until 1837 when Queen Victoria ascended the throne. [1] Fine Arts Magazine  

George IV, while Prince Regent, by Sir Thomas Lawrence(c. 1815)

  Unlike the neoclassical style of the second half of the eighteenth century that drew upon inspiration from ancient civilizations like Greece and Rome, Regency style furniture set out to copy and reproduce ancient forms of decoration. Well-known Regency furniture designers, such as Thomas Hope, James Newton, George Smith, and Henry Holland, borrowed from a wide range of classical sources. From the ancient Roman period, they appropriated symbols such as sphinxes, monopodia, chimera and griffins. Reaching further back still, they also sought inspiration from Egyptian masks. Items were produced for the privileged classes in luxurious materials, with veneers of zebrawood, mahogany and rosewood and were often embellished with and patinated and gilt mounts.  

Figure 2: Tripod table design with monopodia legs, publ. in Household Furniture and Interior Decoration Executed from Design, by Thomas Hope. Reprint of 1807 ed.,1970, plate 32.

 The monopodium, a decorative support consisting of the head and one leg of an animal, often a lion or leopard, was first seen in Roman furniture and was revived during the late eighteenth century by neoclassical designers, such as Thomas Hope in his 1807 publication Household Furniture and Interior Decoration [2] (see Figure 2). The use of these classical design elements helped to establish the ‘English Empire’ element in Regency furniture. [3]  

Antique sources of inspiration were also popular during the mid-eighteenth century and the French archaeologist, draughtsman, and collector Anne Claude Philippe de Tubières, comte de Caylus, encouraged interest in the study of classical subjects as a result of his 1752 publication Recueil d’Antiquités Égyptiennes, Étrusques, Grècques, et Romaines completed upon his return to Paris from a study tour of Italy and Greece. Figure 3 illustrates the profile of a Roman monopodium similar to the legs of the MFA chairs and also common in Hope’s designs.  

In 2009, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston acquired a pair of Irish Regency monopodia armchairs owned by the Second Earl of Caledon, Du Pre Alexander, the son of the 1st Earl, James Alexander, who made a tremendous fortune in India. In 1776, James Alexander purchased the Caledon estate in County Tyrone, Ireland from Edmund Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and Orrery, whose father had acquired it by marriage into the Hamilton family of Caledon in 1738. It is likely that a suite of these chairs were commissioned for Caledon castle. (right) Figure 3: Drawing of a Roman monopodium by A.C.P. Caylus from Recueil d’Antiquités Égyptiennes, Étrusques, Grècques, et Romaines I (1752), pl. XCV, no. II.  

A typical Regency era interior, showing the ample use of red, an influence of China trade.

Although these chairs have not been attributed to a specific designer, design drawings depicting similar panther monopodia were also made by the English architect and designer C.H. Tatham during his Grand Tour to Rome from 1794-1796. He traveled Europe to study classical remains, architecture, and decorative details, a project which architect, Henry Holland, later published as a collection of drawings. [4] As a result of Tatham’s scholarly approach to decorative details, he left his mark on the Regency style by paving the way for a strictly archaeological approach to furniture and design and drove the demand for craftsmen and designers to be well versed in the classical tradition. [5]  

Chairs embodying animal monopodia forming arm supports or, in the case of the MFA pieces, the front legs, were intended to be used primarily in a drawing-room or library. They were often more elaborate than parlor chairs, since they were produced in luxurious materials, such as mahogany, painted or gilded wood. [6]  The MFA chairs are further enhanced by the use of gilt bronze mounts to the top rail, a testament to the importance of the scheme for which they must originally have been commissioned.  

A recent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts entitled, ‘Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection’ [7] highlighted a selection of the museum’s Regency collection. A future English Regency gallery at the MFA will include many fine works of art of the period.  

by Rebecca Tilles, Contributing Writer  

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[1] Martin P. Levy, “’Of Beauty’: Aspects of the Horace Wood Brock Collection of Decorative Arts,” in Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection (Boston: MFA Publications, 2008), p. 25.  

 [2] Household Furniture and Interior Decoration Executed from Designs by Thomas Hope (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1807).  

 [3] Clifford Musgrave, Regency Furniture, 1800 to 1830 (London: Faber and Faber, 1961), p. 51-52.  

 [4] Ania Buckrell Pos, “Tatham and Italy: Influences on English Neo-Classical Design,” in Furniture History, vol. XXXVIII (2002), p. 58.  

[5] Ibid. p. 58, 60.  

[6] Musgrave, p. 95.  

[7] See the exhibition catalogue Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection (Boston: MFA Publications, 2008).  

Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate in decorative arts and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has assisted with the exhibitions “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815” (2007) and “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection” (2009). She holds a BA in French and French Cultural Studies from Wellesley College and an MA in European Decorative Arts from The Bard Graduate Center in New York.

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Left: Twenty‑eight piece toilet service in original leather case marked by Johann Erhard II Heuglin (master 1717–1757) and Philipp Jakob I. Jäger (active 1715–1763), (German (Augsburg), about 1725–1730). Silver gilt, glass, boars’ bristles, original leather‑covered case with wrought‑iron hardware. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fine Art Magazine The toilet service is comprised of four small toilet boxes (for storage of toilet articles), one large casket with lock, two round spice boxes, brush (for grooming), mirror, pair of candlesticks, écuelle with stand (for the morning bouillon, or broth), ewer and basin (for ceremonial hand-washing), tazza (for presentation of a drinking vessel), two glass flasks, scent funnel (to fill bottles with perfumed water) , covered beaker, table bell, candle-snuffer with stand (for snuffing out burning wicks), set of knife, fork, spoon and marrow spoon, all stored in its original leather-covered case. 

Baroque-style residence, Würzburg, Germany 1719-1744, der Kaisersaal (architect: Balthasar Neumann)

 Each piece of the service displays an oval cartouche decorated with small scenes of figures, such as Dianna, goddess of the hunt, with winged putti, and animals, such as stags, geese, mice, dogs, lions, horses, and fish. The form and decoration of the gold-work contains appliqué medallions on a punch-marked ground, popular Baroque motifs popularized during the Régence Period, under the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715). 

Johann Erhard II Heuglin specialized in making table silverware and also produced a toilet service in 1722 for Empress Marie-Amélie, wife of Emperor Karl VII of Germany, conserved today in the Schatzkammer (treasury) of the Munich Residenz. A second large enamel toilet service made by Heuglin was formerly owned by the grand dukes of Mecklenburg and is now in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. [1] Although the original owner of this elegant service is not known, it was later owned by Christian IX, King of Denmark (1818 – 1906), descending within the family to Carl Castenskiold (1923 – 2006), Commander of the Royal Danish Navy. 

Interior contents of the toilet service. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

 Toilet services, also known as Toilettegarnituren, are Baroque creations of eighteenth century goldsmiths’ art. They have always been symbols of refined, ceremonial life at court during late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and were given to both men and women as wedding gifts at princely weddings. [2] Unlike silverware owned by the crown, these sets remained the private property of the owner and were often stored in the boudoir and several toilet services of varying sizes and materials (gold, silver, enamel) might have been found in a princess’ chamber. [3] We know from several paintings and engravings that toilet services were arranged on a table draped in white muslin or lace and placed in front of a window for light, with the boxes and bottles arranged according to size in the center of the table. [4] 

Augsburg was the leading center of production of this distinctive type of toilet service containing breakfast dishes and cups for drinking coffee, tea or hot chocolate and could be appropriately transported in a fitted case when traveling. The sheer volume of toilet services produced in Augsburg during this period is partly due to the client’s ability to order a service directly from the silver dealer with the specific size, shape, and decoration in mind, which was then distributed to specialized goldsmiths. 

The MFA toilet service will soon be on view in a new permanent gallery dedicated to eighteenth century continental European decorative arts and sculpture scheduled to open with the New American Wing in November 2010. 

by Rebecca Tilles, Contributing Writer 

Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate in decorative arts and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has assisted with the exhibitions “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815” (2007) and “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection” (2009). She holds a BA in French and French Cultural Studies from Wellesley College and an MA in European Decorative Arts from The Bard Graduate Center in New York. 

[1] Lorenz Seelig, “Dressing-Table Sets of the Régence and the Rococo,” in Silver and Gold, Courtly Splendour from Augsburg (New York: Prestel, 1995), p. 40. 

[1] Silber und Gold: Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst fir fie Höfe Europas, p. 431 

[1] Ibid., p. 433 

[1] Seelig, p. 40. 

Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously and William Francis Warden Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, Frank B. Bemis Fund, Edwin E. Jack Fund, Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, Russell B. and Andrée Beauchamp Stearns Fund, Harriet Otis Cruft Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, H. E. Bolles Fund, Helen B. Sweeney Fund, Jane Marsland and Judith A. Marsland Fund, Warren Collection—William Wilkins Warren Fund, Mary L. Smith Fund, Alice M. Bartlett Fund, Samuel Putnam Avery Fund, Benjamin Pierce Cheney Donation, Frank M. and Marty T. B. Ferrin Fund, Joyce Arnold Rusoff Fund, Amy M. Sacker Fund, and by exchange from the Bequest of Maxim Karolik, Gift of Mrs. Sidney T. Allen, Bequest of Frank Brewer Bemis, Gift in memory of Dr. William Hewson Baltzell by his wife Alice Cheney Baltzell, John Gardner Coolidge Collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Greene, Gift of Mrs. George Linder, Gift of Miss M.H. Jewell, Gift of the Walpole Society, Bequest of Helen S. Coolidge, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Templeman Coolidge, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Newhall Smith in memory of her husband, John Wheelock Elliot Fund, Otis Norcross Fund, Gift of the Trustees of Reservation Estate of Mrs. John Gardner Coolidge, Gift of Mrs. Henrietta Page, Susan Greene Dexter Fund, Anonymous gift in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour (1833‑1914), Gift of Francis H. Bigelow, Bequest of Charles Hitchcock Tyler, Swan Collection—Gift of Miss Elizabeth Howard Bartol, Gift of Mrs. Guy Lowell in memory of her husband, Guy Lowell, Bequest of James W. Paige, Gift of Mrs. Henry Mason, Bequest of Mrs. John H. Thorndike, and Gift of Miss Louise M. Nathurst.

Candelabrum centerpiece marked by Philip Cornman (Engl.,d. 1822), for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell (Engl. 1797-1843), (London, 1806-1807). Silver gilt; ht: 18 1/4", wd: 23". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum purchase funds donated anonymously. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

 In 2007, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, MA, acquired a rare English silver-gilt candelabrum centerpiece of about 1806-1807, made by sculptor and goldsmith Philip Comman for the renowned firm of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell (1797-1843). The firm achieved royal patronage from King George III and supplied vast amounts of silver and ormolu objects to the royal court and English nobility. The design for this centerpiece is attributed to the early 19th century architect and designer, Charles Heathcote Tatham, an influential supporter of the more severe, neoclassical style of the Regency period. His designs typically included monumental works of art in silver, silver-gilt, and ormolu. [1]  This centerpiece is one of four known examples of Philip Comman’s work based on the designs of Charles Heathcote Tatham. Few examples of Comman’s work are known to survive in silver. 

Detail, side panel depicting classical scenes in chased decoration. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This impressive centerpiece epitomized the rage for Egyptian taste that was so popular in France and England following Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign of 1797-99. Objects in this style became a patriotic celebration of French antipathy in England following Napoleon’s defeats in Egypt in 1798 and Trafalgar in 1805. In England, inspiration from Egypt and Roman Antiquity influenced Regency designers, architects and craftsmen to produce a more archaeological and masculine aesthetic style. This represented a departure from the purely decorative classical taste of the late eighteenth century, playing an important role in all aspects of English art, architecture, and decorative arts.[2] 

The MFA centerpiece features a tri-form pedestal base supporting three winged Greco-Egyptian sphinxes modeled in the round. The central platform, applied on the three incurved faces with panels chased with classical scenes (see detail), gives rise to a truncated column of palm leaves topped by a central detachable dish decorated with classical anthemia and egg-and-dart molding decoration. Three tri-part foliate scroll branches spring from the palm trunk, the lower part terminating in a Bacchic mask and the other two supporting two-light candle branches. The round, shallow bowl is engraved with the arms of Charles Kinnaird, 8th Baron Kinnaird of Inchture (1780-1826) and his wife, Olivia Laetitia Catherine Fitzgerald (d. 1858), the youngest daughter of second Duke of Leinster, whom he married in 1806.[3] 

Huntington Ave. entrance, MFA, Boston, MA

 Spectacular centerpieces such as this one served as magnificent focal points of table decoration. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the art of the table saw a major transformation from the traditional service à la française, the eighteenth century custom in which all courses of a meal were laid out at the same time, to a preference for the service à la russe, where the food was prepared in the kitchen and served one course at a time. This new method ensured that diners enjoyed the food warm, but also prompted changes in the decoration of the table, where elaborate silver and gilt-bronze centerpieces acted as magnificent focal points on the table throughout the meal. Pieces such as this now occupied a central position on the dining table previously reserved for tureens and serving platters. It is likely that the MFA centerpiece was part of a larger dessert service, with similar Egyptian motifs that may have included matching wine coolers, candelabra, and smaller bowls with tripod stands for display of fruit or dessert sweets to decorate the table. 

A recent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts entitled “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection”[4] highlighted a selection of the MFA’s Regency collection and a future English Regency gallery at the MFA will include many fine works of art of the period. 

by Rebecca Tilles, Contributing Writer 

Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate in decorative arts and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has assisted with the exhibitions “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815” (2007) and “Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection” (2009). She holds a BA in French and French Cultural Studies from Wellesley College and an MA in European Decorative Arts from The Bard Graduate Center in New York. 

To learn more about ‘ormolu’ go to: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ormolu 

Read about the Regency Period at: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/regency_period 

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[1] David Udy, “The Influence of Charles Heathcote Tatham,” Proceedings of the Silver Society, Volume II (Autumn 1975), p. 104-105. 

[2] For additional information on the influence of the Egyptian style in Europe, see Patrick Connor ed., The Inspiration of Egypt: Its influence on British Artists, Travellers and Designers, 1700-1900 (Brighton Borough Council, Brighton, 1983); and Jean-Marcel Humbert, Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1994). 

[3] Provenance information as noted in the sale catalogue Sotheby’s London, “Important English and Irish Silver,” (October 17, 1968), lot 90. 

[4] See the exhibition catalogue Splendor and Elegance: European Decorative Arts and Drawings from the Horace Wood Brock Collection (MFA Publications, Boston, 2008).