A Louis XV gilt-bronze-mounted French porcelain pomegranate pot-pourri vase, circa 1740, probably Chantilly

Probably acquired by Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt (1714-1777), British Ambassador to Paris 1768-1772, of Nuneham Courtney, Oxfordshire;

Thence by descent until sold, Property of the Harcourt Family, Sotheby’s London, 6 November 2014, lot 22;

With Pelham Galleries, London;

Where acquired.

Simon Harcourt (1714-1777), from the English branch of the eminent Harcourt family, whose history can be traced back to the 11th century in Normandy, was created Earl Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt in 1749, following his services to the Crown in the Jacobite rising. He raised his own regiment, gaining commission as Colonel, and promotion to General in 1772. Alongside his military career, he held a number of diplomatic appointments and positions at court. In 1751, he was appointed governor to the Prince of Wales, who later became George III. In 1761, after the prince’s accession to the throne, he was appointed as special ambassador to Mecklenburg-Strelitz, to negotiate the marriage between King George and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was British Ambassador to Paris from 1768 to 1772, an appointment for which he was supplied with one of the most celebrated ambassadorial silver services, fulfilled by Royal goldsmiths Parker & Wakelin; see Sotheby's London, The Harcourt Collection, 10 June 1993. In October 1772, he succeeded Lord Townshend as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, an office which he held until 1777. Harcourt travelled extensively on the Continent, both on a Grand Tour, and on various diplomatic and ambassadorial missions, collecting exquisite works of art on his travels. He lived at Nuneham House, set in parkland at Nuneham Courtney in Oxfordshire, which remained in the Harcourt family until it was sold after the Second World War.

In the 18th century, the pomegranate was among exotic fruits being cultivated or imported into Europe, for consumption by the upper echelons of society. Like the pineapple, it was a symbol of luxury, hospitality, and wealth and valued by princes and nobles for its flavour, medicinal properties, and decorative potential. The duc d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIII, had established a botanic garden at Blois, where he cultivated rare and newly discovered plants, recorded in a series of eighty-nine engravings by Nicolas Robert (1614-1684), made in Paris between 1672 and 1676 for the Plantes du Roi.¹ Later, in the service of the new king, Louis XIV, Robert added to the series, which became known as Les Vélin du Roi and work continued under other artists throughout the 18th century. The first performance of Jean Racine’s Iphigénie took place in the Orangerie of Versailles on 18 August 1674. André Felibien, secretary of the Royal Academy of architecture, commented on the setting:

'…beyond that was the avenue of the Orangerie itself, bordered on both sides by orange and pomegranate trees, intermixed with several porcelain vases filled with different flowers…', M. Baridon, A History of the Gardens of Versailles, Philadelphia, 2012, p. 190.

Culinary, economic and scientific interest in these exotic specimens grew rapidly and contemporary to the production of this form the French physician and botanist, Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782) began the manuscript of what would become Traite des Arbres Fruitiers; the completed work was published in 1768. European porcelain and faience manufacturers were quick to respond to this contemporary interest in the natural world, their medium ideal for the creation of this type of sculptural vessel, as it could be realistically modelled into the forms of fruits or vegetables and then applied with bright enamel colours to closely copy nature. While some models appear to be loosely based on engravings of the period, it is also probable that actual fruits and vegetables would have served as models.

This rare model of a pomegranate, adapted as a pot-pourri with a pierced gilt-bronze collar forming the neck, exhibits the characteristics of Chantilly porcelain produced in the second quarter of the 18th century, including a strong palette of turquoise, red, yellow and manganese, naturalistic modelling and the application of large leaves and buds to the rocky base. An almost identical example, attributed to Chantilly or possibly Villeroy, mounted in gilt-bronze with pierced holes around the upper part of the fruit, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019, object Number: 2019.283.55a,b.² A related example of a different design with a horizontal pomegranate resting on a rockwork modelled base was in the Frédéric Halinbourg collection of Chantilly porcelain, sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22-23 May 1913, lot no. 128; and a Chantilly vase-form pot-pourri on a rocky base with a similar treestump to one side was sold at Christie’s London, 13 November 2018, lot 204.

¹ Andreina d’Agliano et al., Brittle Beauty: Reflections on 18th-century European Porcelain, London, 2023, p. 210.

² See Geneviève Le Duc, Porcelaine tendre de Chantilly au XVIII^e siècle, Paris, 1996, p. 173, ill. p. 177.