Two vases – Louis XV era

These pieces blend together traditions from two very distant lands. The body of each vase is made with blue china from the Ch’ien-lung era. They were then embellished by 18th century Parisian craftsmen who added a gilded bronze mount at the base, framing pieces and handles on the sides. Adding bronze to china pieces imported by the East India Company grew into a very lucrative business opportunity for Parisian marchands-merciers. With this technique, they repurposed porcelain pieces that had been damaged during the journey by concealing the defect with bronze ornaments. These marchants-merciers also gave these objects a new purpose, turning them into decorative censers and pot-pourri vases.

Soon, this technique became very popular and porcelain pieces were adorned with bronze elements, whether or not they had been damaged.