The elephant head vase has been made in the Sèvres manufacture on the edge of Paris’ spiral. All manufactory founds has been written down in factory notebooks so can be found that porcelain was found when kaolin deposit was discovered and that chromium was used to achieve pink and green colours in glazes and china paints.
Before porcelain (hard paste) pâte tendre was used, and since it was fired lower, lower firing glazes were used. Those glazes needed a large amount of frits. According to Sèvres museum 1768 two chemists found a kaolin deposit from Limoges region, and so the clay used in the factory could finally be called porcelain. Also new glazes had to be discovered for higher temperatures. As they found kaolin based clay, as in porcelain, after the year 1804 the manufacture didn’t use pâte tendre anymore, since it wasn’t too plastic. The elephant vase was dated in the era of pâte tendre.
A TEDx Met talk has made the vase famous. In the recording Luke Syson who is specialized in renaissance painting tries to understand the decorative object. "Silly as a level I haven't yet understood silliness to be." 3:04, 7:10
The vase is technically a very skillful example of china painting and gilding. A relatively small quantity was produced in Sèvres around 1760. 19, or after some resources 24, vases are known and in public collections.
Even though objects that are in museums are relatively many, it is still a rare example of craft. The vase/candelabrum is an example of rococo style, made by craftsmen in Sévres manufactory and designed by Duplessis. Still, more meaningful than the outcome of the decorative object, is the story that will take us thorugh the history of both the factory and porcelain in Europe.
Jean-Claude Duplessis older was a rococo style multitasker but more known for his prototype making. He has given the form for the elephant head vase. I want to compare the elephant vase to Duplessis vase of which the Sèvres factory museum tells us that it needed 10 professionals to make it. I assume that besides the designer and the painter, the vase needed at least a thrower and kiln fire-er.
Louis XV, prince of Condé and Madame de Pompadour were customers for the factory and bought elephant head vases in their own collections. The vases of prince Condé are displayed in New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (6 pieces) and Madame de Pompadour’s are at Baltimore Walters Art Museum. Wallace Collection (of Sèvres porcelain) in London displays a rare individual since it still has candelabrum pieces attached. Other museums (excluding one piece in Met) inform us that the candelabras are misplaced. I assume that the vases Louis XV bought are in Louvre but I can’t find evidence online. One of Louis XV vases is on display at Waddesdon mansion in England and the one is painted by Jean-Louis Morin. Sèvres museum has none, which in my opinion would be an ideal for at least one of the elephant head vases.
The functional decorative object is a curiosity but on the other hand it is a historical object though it’s provenance and with it’s technique (soft paste porcelain).
The history of Sèvres manufactory starts in Vincennes from where the factory moved to Sèvres in 1756 close to Madame de Pompadour's palace. It seems that after her recommendation Louis XV invested in the factory to become it’s solemn owner in 1759. Earlier it became a royal ceramics factory in 1751. (Nowadays a national ceramics factory.) That has been common among European ceramic factories: for example Koninklijke Delft and Royal Copenhagen.
Sèvres factory has gone through French Revolution and lost important aristocratic customers but during the Napoleon era the factory changed its style towards neoclassicism and has been a successful ceramics factory until these days.
Madame de Pompadour’s decorative elephant head vases describe senses of smell and hearing. The objects are painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin and are made in the style of chinoiserie, or broadly, orientalism. In the rococo style the chinoiserie was in fashion in 1740-1770 and the ceramics factories started to imitate chinese porcelain. The vases are part of the object family that has been in the production at the same factory at the same time.
In the Wallace collection the vases have metal details that have disappeared from the other individuals. Ormolu, bronze doré or gilt-bronze was made when high carat gold and mercury amalgam was put as a coating on bronze. In a kiln, the mercury vaporizes and leaves a golden layer on top.
The historical significance for the elephant head vases gives the royal court: Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. They also gave the factory the royal prefix. The objects tell a story of history of both ceramics and porcelain in Europe and orientalism within the Rococo era. The objects describe the highly developed usage of soft paste porcelain. The provenance tells that the objects have been highly valued through out their history. The objects tell a story of the factory, the designer and the painters skills in producing the item. The object is a curiosity and has been so in the very start, although it is a functional item. If one does not understand the history of porcelain, it still remains as a curiosity.
The elephant head vase has copies from the 19th century and are sold in auctions. All the originals are in museums. If you want to see the objects you need to travel, but it’s important that the vases are in the museums. The information you can find online could be next to the objects in the museums. It would be ideal that at least one of these objects would be in Sèvres factory museum, since they tell a story of porcelain and its history in Europe.