Jasper boat-shaped cup with a dragon
1625 - 1654. Enamel, Bloodstone, Polychrome jasper, Opal, Gold.Room 079B
Vessel comprising four hardstone pieces and five enamelled gold mounts. The oblong bowl has a boat-shaped profile with gadroons at the ends. A leaf-shaped piece serving as a lip is joined to the body with a mount of leaves and rows of beads enamelled in white and sky blue. The stem consists of a heliotrope ball and a balustroid piece linked to a flat oval foot, with an adornment of rounded leaves and black festoons on the opaque white enamel. At the stern of the boat, rendered with great realism, is a dragon with enamelling on the skin, head and claws as well as the curled tail, which descends to the base of the bowl. The eyes are of opal. It appears to be by the same hand as the dragon handles once possessed by vessel O2 at the Prado, attributed to the silversmith Pierre Delabarre.
This vessel is one of the few that have undergone no volumetric alterations, although it is broken on the sides. This damage dates from before 1689, since the Versailles inventory states that it was fragmented into several pieces. It was included even so among the pieces destined for the King of Spain, but was still badly deteriorated when the case we know today was made for it much later. The state of the work in the 19th century can be seen through the photography of Juan Laurent y Minier, "Vase jaspe oriental foncé, montures d’or et émaux, XVIe siècle, règne de Henri II", c. 1879, Museo del Prado, HF0835/12.
The mounting of enamelled gold was attributed by Alcouffe to Pierre Delabarre, whose work is restricted to the circle of the collection of Louis XIV and his son, the Grand Dauphin. His is a piece with similar mounting at the Louvre, the so-called "Minerva ewer", MR 445. Also related to this piece is the very similar vessel MR 120 at the Musée du Louvre, probably dating from about 1630. The dragons, which closely resemble each other, are covered in painted enamel imitating a scaly skin. Their eyes are opals, they have long legs, they lack arms, and from each open mouth, bristling with fierce teeth, there protrudes a flickering tongue ending in an arrow point. A similar dragon also appears on the handle of vessel OA 10409 at the Louvre, closely related to O2 at the Prado. It is possibly inspired by the one accompanying Balthazar Le Mersier’s design for a bouquet d’orfèvrerie engraved by Moncornet in 1626, a sample of the then fashionable cosses de pois (pea pods) style.