Material Painted terracotta
Dimensions 83 × 46 cm
Place of Creation Turin
Status Not Vetted

About the Work

A guarniture of three large Imari-style painted terracotta vases each painted in blue, iron-red, white and gilding with panels of birds or foliage against a deep red ground, comprising: a pair of baluster vases and a central ovoid vase and domed cover, the domed lid with a Buddhist lion finial, painted overall with birds and chrysanthemum, peony and prunus blossoms in a red, gold and cobalt blue palette on a brown ground, circa 1765. The lacquer decoration on these vases, imitating the Japanese Imari palette, is similar in execution to the decoration in the Chinese taste on a lacquer tray and a pair of lacquered tôle vases both attributed to Christian Wehrlin, and both previously with Pelham Galleries. All these objects share the same fine craquelure surface and are decorated with flowers and birds treated in a highly individual manner that must be by the same hand.

Christian Wehrlin, originally from a Nuremberg family of artists, from 1756 to 1774 worked at the court of the Kings of Savoy and his masterpiece is the 1765 decoration of the Sala da Gioco in the Appartamento di Levante (Chinese East Apartment) in the royal hunting palace of Stupinigi, outside Turin.

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Provenance

Probably created by Wehrlin for the Royal Savoy Family when actif in Turin between 1756 and 1774.
Pelham Galleries early 2000’s.
European private collection.

Literature

A.Griseri, Ambienti del Settecento, De Agostini, 1985, pag. 364.
Previously exhibited by Pelham between Paris,London, New York sold to a private collector 20 years ago at Tefaf Maastricht.

View artwork at TEFAF Maastricht 2026

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