The ovoid and part-lobed body with lattice border and flanked by twin putti handles and raised on a waisted socle and square plinth, the plinth stamped A. DURENNE SOMMEVOIRE. 86 cm. high, 77 cm. wide, 48 cm. deep.Claude Ballin was goldsmith to Louis XIV, and was commissioned by the Sun King to create thirteen pairs of vases for the Parterre du Midi and Parterre du Nord at Versailles. Each of the thirteen pairs shows the influence of Mannerist designs, and some incorporate symbols of Apollo, God of the Sun, with whom Louis XIV famously identified himself.Antoine Durenne’s foundry at Sommevoire was renowned for the high quality of its bronze and iron casting (see lot 255 for another work from this foundry). He is also thought by some to have cast the versions of Ballin’s vases commissioned by Sir Richard Wallace (from whom the Wallace collection takes its name), for the Chateau de Bagatelle."