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An extremely fine pair of Empire gilt bronze campana vases attributed to Claude Galle, each of krater form with an egg and dart rim above a mounted band formed of foliate wreath scrolls with pendant drops, the main body mounted to the front and back with a scene portraying the Birth of Venus with Venus standing in a cockle-shell accompanied by winged putti, this scene interspersed by winged Victories each holding a laurel wreath garland standing above double dolphin handles decorated in between with ornate foliate scrolls, the vase with a splayed circular part-fluted and foliate banded foot upon a square plinth resting on a square pedestal mounted on the sides with wreaths enclosing on two sides a Neptune mask and on the other two sides the figure of Cupid riding upon a dolphin, the pedestal on a stepped square base with stiff leaf banding
Paris, date circa 1810
Height 62 cm, diameter of the top 29 cm. each.
Literature: Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 371, pl. 5.13.17, illustrating a clock of circa 1810 with a case by Claude Galle surmounted by the figure of Venus riding in a cockle-shell and incorporating below mask heads, dolphins and putti riding hippocampi.
These outstanding vases relate to a very similar vase, likewise attributed to the eminent bronzier Claude Galle (1759-1815), which were previously sold by this gallery (illustrated in “Richard Redding, Masterpieces of the Past”, 2000, p. 127). The latter is of the same overall form and features the same mounts except that instead of Venus the central scene shows Neptune with his wife the Nereid Amphitrite seated on a cockle-shell chariot drawn by hippocampi. As a fondeur and ciseleur, Claude Galle was almost unrivalled; his work has often been compared to that of his illustrious contemporary Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843), with whom he sometimes collaborated. Like Thomire, Galle supplied work to Louis XVI’s court and later to the Imperial household as well as the cream of Parisian society and foreign clients. Born at Villepreux near Versailles, the son of a poultry trader he travelled to Paris, where he was apprenticed under the fondeur Pierre Foy. In 1784 Galle married Foy’s daughter and on his father-in-law’s death in 1788 he took over the workshop, which he built up into one the finest and largest of its kind. Galle then moved the business to Quai de la Monnaie and from 1805 operated from 60 Rue Vivienne. First listed in the trade registers in 1784 he was received as a maitre-fondeur in 1786 and soon gained the first of many commissions from the Garde-Meuble to furnish the royal palaces.
As an official supplier to the Garde-Meuble Galle created numerous light fittings, figural clock cases, vases and other bronzes d’ameublement for the palaces of Saint-Cloud, the Trianons, Tuileries, Fontainebleau, Compiègne, Rambouillet and a number of the Italian palaces including Monte Cavallo, Rome and Stupinigi near Turin. Yet despite numerous and important commissions Galle was often in debt, partly on account of his lavish life style and also because many of his clients, such as Prince Joseph Napoleon, failed to pay him. After his death a fellow bronzier Lucien-François Feuchère and the marchand-mercier André Coquille assessed his considerable stock and managed to retrieve his debts. Thus Galle’s business was reopened and prospered under his son, Gérard-Jean Galle (1788-1846). His work can be found among the world’s finest collections including those mentioned above as well as the Musée National de Château de Malmaison, the Musée Marmottan in Paris, the Museo de Reloges at Jerez de la Frontera, the Residenz Munich and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
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