Elephant Candelabrum Vase (Vase à Tête d'Eléphant)
Jean-Claude Duplessis
c. 1757–58
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, and gilding
Dimensions
38.5 × 25 × 14.7 cm (15 1/8 × 9 13/16 × 5 3/4 in.)
Classification
vase
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108575
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This model is one of the more exotic forms created by Jean-Claude Duplessis. The elephants’ trunks originally supported double candle sockets that are now missing. The idea of combining elephant heads with a vase may have derived from a Ming dynasty Chinese vase or a Meissen candelabrum. The Sèvres painter Pierre-Louis-Philippe Armand accentuated the sensuous qualities of the elephants by framing their brown eyes with pink lids and long eyelashes.