Pair of ram's head vases in Carrara marble, XIXe

Rare pair of ram's head Carrara marble vases. We can appreciate models similar to the Tuileries Garden and the Palace of Versailles.
Stylization of the ram's head has always been tempered by the decorative conventions of statuary. Already in the Persian Achaemenid era, the ram was used as an ornament to signify the social status and religious legitimacy of the owner, as in the rhytons, terracotta or metal vases measuring about 25 centimeters in height which is in the form a horn, with a handle, comprising a bottom opening through which the liquid flows and the end of which ends in an animal or human head. The pair of vases with ram's heads in question does not derogate from this decorative tradition which is eminently representative of the aesthetics of the XVIIIth century: the molded pedestal rests on a small base, a torus decorating the upper part of the latter above which rises the upper part of the vase. The latter has large vertical gadroons harmoniously carved. The flared neck is adorned on either side with two ram's heads, a Bacchic-inspired style (1) quite innovative and very fashionable in the XVIIIth century.

Another symbolism, all the more significant as we find similar examples in the parks of royal and princely palaces, that placing the ram under the seal of renewal (2), (3), (4): thus, the heraldic symbolism of the ram is close to its symbolism in astrology, in connection with the spring equinox, therefore the rebirth but also the warlike and pugnacious power

RELATED WORKS:
(1) Bacchic Clock With Rams, Louis Period XVI by Follin L'aîné, Courtesy Galerie Pellat de Villedon.
(2) Vase aux rams, Palace of Versailles, Courtesy Estate and Park of the Palace of Versailles.
(3) Vase aux rams, Parc des Tuileries, former park of the Palais des Tuileries.
(4) Vases aux rams, VERBECKT Jacques, known as Vase du Printemps, located in the park of Rueil-Malmaison; national museum of the castles of Malmaison and Bois-Préau.