Vase - Earthenware

Pair of porcelain vases in a Japonist style signed L'escalier de cristal, mid-19th century

Vases made by 'L'Escalier de Cristal' in Paris, signed on the underside.

L'Escalier de cristal is an old Parisian house created by Marie Desarnaud in 1804.
Famous during the Restoration period, she was the first merchant of her time to offer clocks, candelabras, and ornamental vases that combined cut crystal and gilded bronze.

The crystal staircase at the 1867 Universal Exhibition revived the taste for Sino-Japanese art.
Many pieces of furniture and decorative objects were then made in this style but adapted to European taste.
This vase would be part of those Japanese-inspired productions from the mid-19th century.

Hard-paste porcelain vases with a powdered brown background, enriched with gold and silver to form motifs of bamboo and cranes.
This décor imitates niellé bronze from Vietnam / Southeast China.
Powdery brown glaze imitates bronzes; imitations of materials from other sources are a widespread aesthetic element in Chinese art.
The vases are adorned on either side with two elephant heads in sculpted and patinated bronze.
These works are excellently executed and illustrate the quality of the house L'escalier de cristal and the French Sino-Japanese-influenced current that will be a precursor of Art Nouveau.


drilled to be mounted as a lamp
Dimensions 33 x 23 x 16 cm