
Cassandra D'Cruz
Specialist, Head of Sale
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US$12,000 - US$18,000
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Claude Ballin (French, 1615 – 1678) was an important silversmith appreciated by French society who produced hundreds of works for Louis XIV and the Château de Versailles. The artists created several designs for the Gardens that were reproduced throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Inspired by Italian tradition, these vases borrow several motifs from classical sculpture. The two-handles are topped with Janus heads and supported by boars' masks at the bases. The sides are decorated with shells, Greek-key, and oak leaves. The bodies sit on a fluted stem and square bases.
These particular vases were created by Christophe Francois Calla (French,1802-1884). Almost all of Ballin's works were destroyed or lost, except for a 1665 bronze version in the Château de Versailles collection (inv. MR 3415). 19th century copies of Ballin's vases were commissioned for the fourth Earl of Marquis of Hertford (English, 1800-1867) to go in his Paris home -- Bagatelle in the Parc du Bologne.