Hidden treasures.(Collector's notes/Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England)

Baron Ferdinand Rothschild filled Waddesdon Manor, his estate near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, with extraordinary works of art. Later, member of the family added still more objects to the collections, and of necessity many were put in storage over the years. The intriguing story of the rediscovery of one of these treasures is told on pages 114-121 of this issue, but countless others remain to be studied. Here, Ulrich Leben, the associate curator at Waddesdon, presents his findings about two important pieces that have recently been dusted off. Both came to Waddesdon with Baron Rothschild's second cousin James de Rothschild, who brought with him from France the collection of furniture, porcelain, and pictures he had inherited from his own father, Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Mr. Leben writes:

The first is the alabaster covered vase with elaborate gilt-bronze mounts illustrated at left, which was considered to be of Italian origin when it was brought out of storage. However, a visit to the newly opened Marmorpalais in Potsdam, Germany, revealed a nearly identical covered vase that had been made for Madame de Pompadour and acquired in the eighteenth century by Frederick the Great, king of Prussia. Ironically, the misogynist Frederick, who made some thunderous comments against the French king's favorite mistress during her lifetime, was among the first to seek out objects from her private estate when it was put up for sale after her death in 1764.

The gilt-bronze reclining figures that form the handles on both vases axe clearly related to designs by Francois Boucher (see page 70), which came to my attention thanks to Alicia M. Priore, "Francois Boucher's Designs for Vases and Mounts" (Studies in the Decorative Arts, vol. 3, no. 2 [Spring-Summer 1996], pp, 2-51). Although Boucher's designs are not considered patterns for specific projects, they were widely drawn upon for decorative motifs. The reclining figures were surely inspired by antique models, which Boucher would have known from his journey to ...