Pair of Carved Lindenwood Vases attributed to Aubert Parent
An exceptional pair of large Directoire period carved fruitwood vases attributed to Aubert Parent. Each with a fluted, trumpet-shaped, neck above a body carved with vine leaves and flanked by handles in the form of a serpent, the foot carved as folded foliage, raised on a square plinth
Aubert-Henri-Joseph Parent (1753 – 1835), to whom this pair of vases are attributed, was known for his fantastic carvings in Louis XVI’s palace of Versailles, and was already inundated with further commissions in the 1770s. In 1784 he took a sojourn to Italy to study the ruins of antiquity. These vases was presumably made upon his return, as they already displays influence of contemporary Roman art.
Aubert-H-J. Parent (1753-1835), remembered as a virtuoso carver of neo-classical bas-reliefs with naturalistic rendering of outstanding skill and subtlety, was also an architect, and an antiquary who published Roman ruins he examined in Switzerland and near his native Valenciennes, and a designer who issued engravings for ironwork and clock cases.
Born December 13, 1753 at Cambrai in France, Parent’s precocious talent was soon noticed by Anne-Gabriel de Cardevac, Marquis d’Havrincourt and other local aristocrats with connections at the court of Louis XVI. Parent’s first important commission was a carved panel presented in 1777 to Louis XVI who placed it in the salle à manger intérieure at Versailles. In 1784, Parent made his first visit to Italy where he stayed until 1788 studying classical antiquity and the monumental ruins. Upon his return to Paris in 1788, Parent set about publishing his designs for vases, consoles, seat furniture, wrought-iron balconies and staircases railings. Parent left Paris for Switzerland in 1792, originally settling in Basle before moving to Neuchâtel by 1795. In 1793, he described himself as ‘sieur Aubert. Parent, Sculptor, Designer, Academician and former pensioner of his late Majesty, Louis XVI, King of France, resident of Bale, Switzerland‘. In Basel, Parent lectured at the University and directed local excavations of Roman remains, finally publishing Antiquités de la Suisse. From 1797 to 1804, he worked in Berlin before returning to Neuchâtel. He finally returned to Valenciennes in 1813, where he established a chair of architecture at the academy. He continued to sculpt, exhibiting at Valenciennes in 1817, 1818, 1833 and 1835, at Douai in 1817, Lille in 1830 and Cambrai in 1834.
A related urn and cover was offered for sale in Chatsworth, the Attic sale, Sotheby’s, 5th-7th October 2010, lot 439.
For a full discussion of the life and works of Aubert Parent, see Colin Streeter, Two Carved Reliefs by Aubert Parent, the J.Paul Getty Museum Journal, 13/1985, pp.53-66.
Unusually for French decoration of the late eighteenth century, these vases eschew materials like porcelain, gilt bronze or exotic imported woods like mahogany, placing a central focus on carving in the medium of native European fruitwood. For their skilled carving, this type of vases is often associated with Aubert Parent, known for his exquisitely intricate panels in minutely carved wood. A pair of vases highly similar in form and decoration to the present pair, with the same pleated neck, twisted-ribbon collar and intertwining vine-and-snake carving but with different treatment of the leaves to the base, was offered at Sotheby’s New York, 8th May 2009, lot 169 then attributed to Parent. Examples of vases and urns with similar carving style and attributed to Parent have also been offered in these Rooms in Chatsworth: The Attic Sale, 5th October 2010, lot 439, again in these Rooms at Arts of Europe, 3rd December 2013 and also at Lempertz, 20th May 2016, lot 1068.
