Urn from the Palace of Versailles

Claude Michel, called Clodion, was one of the most successful sculptors of 18th-century France. This urn is likely from a set made for the terrace at Versailles. Clodion’s subjects were often inspired by pagan antiquity, and this urn, merging the playfulness of the Rococo with classical history, is no exception. Rococo, the dominant style of the time, refers to the preference for organic shapes, curves, fanciful embellishments and pastel colors that dominated this period. Here, the dramatic ram's head handles frame frolicking nymphs and satyrs.