“Old Paris” Vase with a Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, about 1828–30
French
Porcelain, partially painted and gilded, with iron tie-rod for assembly
14 in. high, 7 1/2 in. wide, 5 1/8 in. deep
Inscribed (below the portrait): THOMAS JEFFERSON
RECORDED: Israel Sack, Inc., New York, Brochure No. 12 (April 1964), p. 270 no. 661 illus., as “French circa 1810–1820” (reissued as American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection I [1969], p. 270 no. 661 illus.).
EXHIBITED: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 2014–15, Very Rich and Handsome: American Neo-Classical Decorative Arts, no. 82 pp. 126, 127 illus. in color
EX COLL.: [Israel Sack, Inc., New York, by 1964]; to private collection, until 2011; to private collection, until the present
This vase, which, at 14 inches high, is unusually large for vases of this type, depicts Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), the third President of the United States.
Vases of this type often came in pairs, and the likely original mate to the present Jefferson vase is a piece decorated with a portrait of James Madison (1751–1836), the fourth President of the United States, which was purchased by The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1942. But for the portraits, the vases are identical, with the same purple ground and the same type of painted and gilded decoration. But whereas the present Jefferson vase had a minor damage on the separate triangular section below the portrait, now expertly and invisibly repaired, that entire member in The Metropolitan Museum’s vase has been replaced with a metal section of the same shape.
The Metropolitan Museum also owns a similar pair of vases with an orange ground and portraits of Washington and Lafayette, where the same cone-shaped member on each has been replaced with metal pieces of the same shape.
This vase was once owned by the firm of Israel Sack, New York, and was published by them in one of their earliest brochures as “French circa 1810–1820.” However, the likeness of Jefferson is almost certainly loosely based upon a print by Nicolas Eustache Maurin or his brother Antoine taken after a Pendleton lithograph after one of Gilbert Stuart’s so called “Five American Kings” portrait series of 1828. This would thus establish a date for the vase after 1828, and probably from the years 1828–30.