Monumental Napoléon III Porcelain Urns — Hand-Painted Turquoise & Gilt Bronze Matching Pair

A magnificent pair of monumental porcelain urns in the grand Napoléon III tradition, each rising from a cast bronze octagonal plinth to a domed finial lid. The vivid cerulean ground — a deep, luminous turquoise characteristic of the finest nineteenth-century decorative porcelain — is enriched with elaborate gilt bronze surface ornament: scrolling acanthus tracery, lattice reserves, and a pair of bronze bird-form handles that flank each vessel with aristocratic poise.

Each urn bears a distinct hand-painted cartouche at its centre, framed in gilt and set against a warm ochre ground. The first depicts a romantic winter landscape — bare trees, a distant village, and two figures in a snow-dusted scene of quiet melancholy. The second presents a lush floral bouquet of roses, peonies, and wild blooms rendered with botanical precision and painterly softness. That each side of the pair tells a different story is the mark of a commission of the highest order — not a production piece, but a work conceived as a conversation between two artistic sensibilities.

At over a metre in height, these urns are objects of institutional scale and museum quality. Suited to a grand salon, a formal dining room, or a double-height entrance hall, they represent the apex of nineteenth-century European decorative arts — opulent, confident, and utterly irreplaceable as a pair.

Dimensions: Width: 33 cm Height: 117 cm
Each piece is unique and handmade to order.
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