Pair of vases (vase grec Duplessis rectifié), Manufacture de Sèvres, 1780
In 1782 the Russian crown prince –later Tsar Paul I –and his consort sojourned in Paris. They visited the porcelain factory in Sèvres, where King Louis XVI made them a generous gift of numerous pieces of porcelain. They themselves bough many items, including these two vases. The couple displayed them in their palace in Pavlovsk.