• Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
  • Rare 18th century French faience urns by Veuve Perrin with hand-painted pastoral scenes in Rococo style
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Veuve Perrin French faience urn pair, Rococo scenes

£2,400
£2,400
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Period Rococo, 1700's
Origin Marseille, France
Material Faience
Maker Veuve Perrin
Dimensions 19.5 x 14 x 10 cm
Weight 1.3kg
UKFree Europe£20 Rest of world£30

About this piece

Veuve Perrin ran one of Marseille's most respected faience workshops through the 1700's, and this pair carries several of the signatures collectors look for in her finest work: pastoral scenes worked in polychrome enamel across deep blues, yellows, rose pinks, greens, and earthy browns, a colour range distinctive enough that it's become something of a shorthand for identifying her output at a glance. Each urn is finished with gilded ram's head handles, a classical motif that adds real sculptural weight to the silhouette, while the square bases carry their own floral bouquets framed by ribbon borders, and a pierced gallery runs around the upper section for good measure, decoration stacked on decoration without ever quite tipping into excess.

Both urns are mounted to their bases with metal rods and bolts, original to the construction, and retain a slight rotational give as a result, easily tightened underneath if a firmer fit is preferred, though it's worth knowing about rather than mistaking for a fault. Comparable Veuve Perrin pieces are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection (object numbers 50.211.72a, b and .73a, b), the kind of institutional company that puts a firm floor under a workshop's reputation regardless of what any individual piece happens to sell for.

Condition notes

Both urns are in very good antique condition. The painting, enamelling, and gilding are well preserved, with only light wear consistent with careful handling over time. One urn has a chip to the gilded ram's horn, revealing a little of the faience beneath, and a barely noticeable enamel flake on the forehead of the same ram's head. Minor natural glaze crazing and tiny firing marks, typical of 18th-century faience, are present throughout. The urns can still rotate slightly on their mounts, but this could easily be stabilised if desired.

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