A highly important garniture of hard-paste sèvres porcelain vases.

These vases are made of a very rare paste that is pigmented through the body rather than decorated on the surface – referred to as gris agathe in the factory’s records. Another garniture of this porcelain was made for Louis XVI’s aunts.

The gilt-bronze mounts on these vases are attributed to the bronzier P.-P. Thomire and are of the highest quality. The cockerels heads indicate that these vases may have been made for a French Royal patron. The elaborate eagles heads on the central vase are doubled to each side – a great extravagance since gilt-bronze mounts of this intricate quality were phenomenally expensive in the 18th century.

Two pairs of similarly-mounted stone vases are in the British Royal Collection, displayed in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace.