Elephant Candelabrum Vase (Vase à Tête d'Eléphant)

Applied Arts of Europe

c. 1757–58

Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (French, founded 1740)
Design attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis (French, c. 1695–1774)
Painted by Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand (French, active 1758–1781)

This model is one of the more exotic forms created by Jean-Claude Duplessis. The elephants’ trunks originally supported double candle sockets that are now missing. The idea of combining elephant heads with a vase may have derived from a Ming dynasty Chinese vase or a Meissen candelabrum. The Sèvres painter Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand accentuated the sensuous qualities of the elephants by framing their brown eyes with pink lids and long eyelashes.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Artist: Jean-Claude Duplessis (Designer)
Title: Elephant Candelabrum Vase (Vase à Tête d'Eléphant)
Place: Sèvres (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1757–1758
Medium: Soft-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, and gilding
Inscriptions: Mark: interlaced L's enclosing letter E with dots above and below; "482" in red overglaze; incised on body on base: "MLi"
Dimensions: 38.5 × 25 × 14.7 cm (15 1/8 × 9 13/16 × 5 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Joseph Maier and Arthur Lewis Liebman Memorial: Gift of Kenneth J. Maier, M.D.
Reference Number: 1986.3446
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/108575/manifest.json

Charles Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, Vol. 2, Sèvres China, Furniture, Metal Work and Objects de Vitrine (London: 1884), no. 82.
Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. 4, Porcelain (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society for the Metropolitan Museum of Art), 206–07, no. 83.
Sotheby’s, New York, Important French Furniture, Continental Ceramics and Carpets, sale cat. (Sotheby’s, New York, November 17, 1984), lot 70 (ill.).
Ian Wardropper and Lynn Springer Roberts, European Decorative Arts in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1991), 77, 79 (ill.).

Memphis, TN, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, March 11, 1990–April 15, 1990; New York, Rosenberg & Stiebel, May 3, 1990–June 15, 1990.
Art Institute of Chicago, Eighteenth-Century French Vincennes-Sèvres Porcelain, May 18, 1995–March 30, 1997.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Suggested Terms

Elephant Candelabrum Vase (Vase à Tête d'Eléphant)

Currently Off View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.