A « Dance of the Willis » for Orsay

8/4/25 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée d’Orsay - Even a masterpiece sometimes needs a ray of sunshine to reveal its full qualities: discovered one winter morning last February, this sumptuous vase-shaped ewer with its matching tray (ill. 1) seemed to us to be naturally destined for the Musée d’Orsay, which had nothing equivalent in its collection. Having been duly informed, its teams only had a few days to act and acquire this beautiful object, which was offered in Cannes at Azur Enchères during the sale on 25 February. With a good deal of attention focused on a superb painting by Greuze, which was also sold for a reasonable sum, it is hardly surprising that the ewer and its tray escaped any bidding war a few lots later. Thus sold at their low estimate - €10,000 hammer, or €13,000 with fees - and without the room reacting, they were therefore taken away at this very reasonable price to be offered to the museum by the indispensable Société des Amis des Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie.

1. Auguste Lemaire (active between 1851 and 1868) after Léonard Morel-Ladeuil (1820-1888)
Ewer-vase "The Dance of the Willis" and its tray, before 1862
Silvered bronze cast in high relief and cold chased - 68 x 54 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Alexandre Lafore

See the image in its page

One doesn’t know what to admire first in this masterpiece, which has been perfectly appraised by the Lacroix-Jeannest firm [1] : the elegance and flexibility of the form, the richness and exuberance of the decoration, the quality of the casting and the chasing? One glance is enough to appreciate the iconographic inventiveness and technical prowess (ill. 2 and 3) of the object, which is both solid and light, with a very balanced appearance despite its imposing dimensions. We know that the model was developed by Léonard Morel-Ladeuil between 1851 and 1855, a little over ten years after the first performance of the famous romantic ballet Giselle, of which the bacchanal of the Willis in…