These impressive ewers bear decorative motifs similar to those found upon related pieces by craftsmen working during the reign of Louis XIV and in particular a signed silver-gilt ewer from 1697 for the private altar service of Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval. Made by the silversmith Nicolas Delaunay (c. 1655-1727), Directeur du Balancier des Médailles, Maître Orfèvre, this ewer of similar shape and decorative vocabulary as the present is now in the Cathedral of Poitiers (illustrated in Les Trésors des Eglises de France, Musée des Arts Décoratifs,ꦚ Paris, 1965, p.🎉 187, cat. no. 347, pl. 231).

Various elements in the design of these ewers, notably a mask supporting the handle and the espagnolette mask on the frieze, can be found in three drawings attributed to Delaunay's half brother, Jacques de Meaux, from the Tessin Collection in Stockholm, which are illustrated in 'Versailles à Stockholm', Paris, 1985, Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 196-198. The alternating bands to the base of the ewer's body can be found in a drawing for an ewer by Nicolas Delaunay for the Countess Oxenstierna (ill. 'Versailles à Stockholm', p.207, Q7). The unusual form of the handle, modelled as a standing panther or lioness, first appears in Enea Vico's Vases after the Antique, published in Italy in 1543.

The handles also closely relate those found on a pair of Louis XIV ewers attributed to Michel Anguier, which the dealer Madame Légère purchased at the celebrated Blondel de Gagny sale in 1776 (this pair was offered at Christie's New York, French & Company, 24 November 1998, lot 13). Interestingly, a bronze ewer of this form appears in a still-life painting by Chardin circa 1730, Musical Instruments with a Parrot, and in two of his later works of 1765 and 1766-the latter reproduced here in P. Conisbee, Chardin, Oxford, 1986, pls. 89, 202 and 19.

There are♕ other gilt-bronze examples from the period of Louis XIV's reign following the same model as the present pair, recorded in both public and private collections:

-A pair from the collection of Jacques G🐠uerlain, at the Musée du Louvre (inv. OA10264/OA10265);

-A pair offered at Sotheby's, London, Important Continental Furniture and Tapestries, 6th December 2006, lot 27;

-A pair oꩲffe💃red as lot 20, at Christie's, London, 14th July 1983.

Two bronze ewers of identical form, one of which was said to be of the Louis XIV period and stamped with the C couronné poinçon and the other of later date were offered Sotheby's London, European Sculpture and Works of Art, 5th July 1990, lot 138.

From these examples however, the present pair differ by its frieze depicting children playing with each other or animals, reminiscent of the engravings Les Jeux et Plaisirs de l'Enfance (♏1657) made by the French female engraver Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (1636-1697) after initial studies b🐻y her uncle Jacques Stella (1596-1657).