At 211/2in (54.5cm) tall, this was decorated to the front with a oval medallion bust of L’Empereur en Costume de Sacre (Napoleon in his coronation robes) against a silver grid of gold bees on a Sèvres blue ground. The reverse was adorned with the Imperial crown resting on a cushion within a ring of foliage and plumage, surmounted by the Imperial eagle. The lower half of the body of the vase was decorated with more Imperial eagles and symbols of justice. This pulled in a triple-estimate €250,000 (£161,000).
At the same sale, another fuseau vase, this one Charles X (c.1825), 22in (56cm) tall, with a medallion portraying the Duc d’Angoulême on a gold and olive-green ground, sold well on €60,000 (£38,700). A Louis-Philippe Sèvres vase with celebrated hunting decor, Les Chasses Historiques à la Cour de France, had been expected to bring over £100,000 but remained unsold because of what Drouot described as the “threat of an export ban,” and “pressure from the State”.
There were two impressive picture prices at Ferri – €240,000 (£155,000) for Vuillard’s Madame Vuillard Lisant (1903), despite cracking paintwork and a quadruple-estimate €546,000 (£352,000) for Henri Lebasque’s undated Le Lever, 3ft x 3ft 1in (92 x 95cm).
This early-morning nude, sitting on a bed in front of boldly patterned curtains, was redolent of Matisse.
Record for Sèvres with the Emperor’s new clothes
There was a French auction record for Sèvres under the Ferri (17.94%/ 11.96% buyer’s premium) gavel at Drouot on May 24 when the large Empire period fuseau vase, shown here, was offered for sale.
