Large pair of Empire Medici vases with Bacchanal scenes

A rare and striking pair of large gilt bronze Empire Medici vases, known as campana urns, presented on cherry red marble bases and adorned with intricate Bacchanal scenes inspired by François Duquesnoy (1597-1643). Each vase, with a gadrooned rim and laurel leaf decorations on its foot and collar, rests gracefully on a square cherry red marble plinth. The marble base is embellished with gilt bronze motifs: a thyrsus, amphora, vine leaves, and a ribboned vine leaf wreath on the other side which are symbols associated with Bacchus, the god of wine. Handles are shaped as satyr masks, lending a mythological touch to these exquisite vessels.


The body of each vase features a finely sculpted bas-relief Bacchanal scene, depicting playful putti crowned with vine leaves, holding a wine cup and engaging with a goat. The frieze is enriched by intricate vine leaf decorations above. This scene, inspired by Roman sarcophagi and texts by Philostratus and Virgil, echoes an ancient representation of children’s bacchanalia with a goat, which Duquesnoy popularised in the 1630s. This motif, symbolising the tension between grape-harvest and the goat — a threat to vineyards — draws from ancient tradition, in which goats were sacrificed to Bacchus. Notable examples of similar reliefs by Duquesnoy can be found in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (see last photo).


This exceptional pair is in an excellent state of preservation, boasting exquisite detail.


Origin: France, Empire period, circa 1815

Dimensions: 45 cm high (17.7?), diameter 19 cm(7.5?); base 14 x 14 cm (5.5? x 5.5?)


The Medici Vase and its Legacy
These Empire vases pay homage to the celebrated Medici Vase, a monumental marble bell krater from the 1st century AD, originally created as a garden ornament in ancient Rome. The Medici Vase gained renown in the Villa Medici gardens in Rome, later moving to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it remains today, in the first-floor Verone sull’Arno overlooking the River Arno. It was often illustrated in engravings, the most famous of which is by Stefano della Bella (1656). He depicted the young Medici heir who would become Grand Duke Cosimo III seated, drawing the vase. Its likeness became widely admired, often displayed alongside the similar Borghese Vase in grand European estates.