Beschreibung:

A Louis XV ormolu mounted Chinese crackle cream-glazed fontaine à parfumThe porcelain 18th century, the ormolu mounts mid-18th century
The vase of slender baluster body rising from a spreading foot to a tall waisted neck, covered overall in a creamy glaze infused with cracks, mounted with acanthus scrolling handles and domed cover, the cistern tap with fruiting knopped finial and bullrush backplate, the pierced scrolling rocaille base modelled as a fountain head, originally with further mounted branches to the back, 15.5cm wide, 12cm deep, 22cm high (6in wide, 4 1/2in deep, 8 1/2in high) Footnotes十八世紀 青釉冰裂紋瓶（嵌十八世紀中期鎏金銅飾）
Provenance
Bernard Steinitz, Paris, 2000.
來源
Bernard Steinitz，巴黎，2000年.
Ormolu-mounted porcelain wares like this perfume container were among the most inventive creations of the mid-18th century marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux (1703-1758) and Thomas-Joachim Hébert (1687-1773). They specialized in these creations, combining rare Chinese porcelain or celadon vases with the finest ormolu decoration cast and chiselled by talented bronziers and silversmiths such as St Germain or François-Thomas Germain. Some of the designs are inspired or attributable to the dessinateurs sculpteurs brothers Paul-Ambroise and René-Michel Stoldtz.
Interestingly, in a 1724 inventory of the marchand-mercier Hébert there were listed two such fontaines à parfum: one featuring a Chinese green and red porcelain cylindrical vase, with ormolu mounts, valued 120 livres; the second one described as a silver-mounted Japanese porcelain perfume fountain. These luxury wares were conceived originally for perfumed water, but also used for wine, tea or coffee on occasion.
The most famous fontaine à parfum recorded is the celebrated one delivered by Hébert on May 18, 1743 to the garde-robe of Louis XV at Versailles. It is a monumental crackled Chinese porcelain truittée Qianlong vase ornated with lavish rococo mounts, the spout in the form of a swan, the lid fitted with a crayfish. That fountain passed later on to the duc d'Aumont (1709-1782), Louis XV's first gentilhomme de la chambre, and later purchased by the marchand Julliot, before ending in the Patino Collection who donated it back to Versailles.