{"product_id":"vintage-pair-of-napoleon-iii-style-53559","title":"Vintage Pair of Napoléon III Style Alabaster Mantel Vases, Gilt Metal Mounts with Scrolled Handles and Palmette Tripod Feet, 19th Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eDETAILS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaterial: Alabaster; gilt metal mounts\u003cbr\u003e\nStyle-Period: Napoléon III style; vintage, attributed to the nineteenth century\u003cbr\u003e\nShipping: Professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide. We handle the paperwork\u003cbr\u003e\nCondition: Several chips around both rims; part of one handle missing on one vase; weathered surface to the alabaster.\u003cbr\u003e\nReturns: Accepted within 30 days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlabaster 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Maison Jaspers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59816089387353,"sku":"LM-E-530","price":593.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1063\/5388\/5529\/files\/il_fullxfull.8702119165_b9rz.jpg?v=1791633550","url":"https:\/\/maisonjaspers.com\/products\/vintage-pair-of-napoleon-iii-style-53559","provider":"Maison Jaspers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}