Sotheby's Paris, 16 October 2007, lot 113.

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Sotheby's Paris, 16 octobre 2007, lot 113.

These vases are fine examples of Swedish porphyry from the early 19th century directly relating to the Swedish manufactures. They relate to C.F. Sundvall's designs for porphyry vases, which were executed around 1788-1790 and to those by the Court ciseleur Fredrik Ludvig Rung of 1799 (H. Sundblom, Porfyr, Stockholm, 1985, p.21 - fig.1).

Porphyry was first discovered in the valley of Älvdalen (Elfdal) in 1731 but was not commercially exploited until after 1788 by Eric Hagströ𒁏m under the direction of Nils Adam Bielke. Despite being patronised by the court, commercial difficulties always existed and in 1818 th🃏e works were acquired by the new king Charles XIV, born Jean Bernadotte (1763-1844), who used them as a supplier of lavish diplomatic presents.

For several decades the workshops produced vases, urns and other monumental vessels often mounted with ormolu mounts e﷽ither made in Sweden or mounted in France. Production largely ceased following the disastrous fire in 1869.