A pair of 'navettes couvertes' vases Breche d'Alep marble vessel of oval section carved from three pieces of stone making up the base, body with moulded shoulders and the lid. With ormolu appliqués: A jagged polished band around the shoulders entwined by a matte oak leaf garland, heads of Daphne on both of the narrow sides with branches as the hair, and chain borders around the base and lid. Mounted on a rectangular ormolu base. H ca. 30, W ca. 32, D ca. 16 cm. The mountings Paris, in the manner of Pierre Gouthières, circa 1785. The vase by Gouthière in serpentine with ram's head appliques in the Louvre published in Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich 1986, illus. 4.3.2. Cf. also Alcouffe/Dion-Tenenbaum/Mabille, Les bronzes d´ameublement du Louvre, Dijon 2004, no. 121. Cf. A similar white marble vase in the Museum Huelsmann in Bielefeld (cat. Sanfter Glanz und Patina. Kostbares Gerät aus Bronze Messing Kupfer Eisen, Bielefeld 2002, no. 51). For more on mountings “à la Gouthière” cf. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 3/2003, illus. 383.