Vintage Pair of Napoléon III Style Alabaster Mantel VasesGilt Metal Mounts with Scrolled Handles and Palmette Tripod Feet, 19th Century

DETAILS

Material: Alabaster; gilt metal mounts
Style-Period: Napoléon III style; vintage, attributed to the nineteenth century
Shipping: Professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide. We handle the paperwork
Condition: Several chips around both rims; part of one handle missing on one vase; weathered surface to the alabaster.
Returns: Accepted within 30 days.

Alabaster has been carved into vessels since ancient Egypt. It is soft enough to be worked easily on the lathe, and when it is cut thin, light glows through it like warm wax. Volterra in Tuscany has been famous for alabaster carving since Etruscan times, and in the nineteenth century its workshops supplied tapering vases and urns across Europe. Parisian makers then set them in gilt mounts to suit the fashionable mantelpieces of the Second Empire.

This pair of mantel vases shows that pairing of soft stone and gilt metal. Each vase is turned from pale, cloudy alabaster in a tall, tapering trumpet shape that flares at the rim. A gilt metal band circles the middle, set with a small flower rosette at the front. From the band rise two S-scrolled handles, curling into spirals and leafy tips. The vase sits in a gilt metal collar on a domed, fluted base, raised on three scrolled feet each faced with a palmette.

The vases show their long life. There are several chips around the rims, and part of one handle is missing on the right-hand vase, as pictured. The alabaster has the soft, slightly weathered surface that comes with age. They still make an elegant pair on a mantelpiece, either side of a clock or a mirror, holding dried flowers or simply standing on their own.

In short, this is a vintage pair of Napoléon III style alabaster mantel vases, with gilt metal mounts, scrolled handles and palmette tripod feet, attributed to the nineteenth century. They are exactly as pictured.

Condition

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A decorative style is not a guarantee of a particular maker or date. See the individual listing for the stated attribution and period.

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Delivery information

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