A pair of Directoire ornamental urns, executed in fire-gilt bronze and white marble, attributed to Jean-Baptiste Héricourt. This model was designed by Héricourt around 1793, and one of its first recipients was Tsar Paul I of Russia. While traditionally attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire, research by Jean-Dominique Augarde has revealed their creator to be Jean-Baptiste Héricourt. 

The urns each stand upon a fluted socle on a square marble base, decorated on three sides with Mercury masks, and feature foliate ornamentation and a large frieze showing women clothed in the Ancient style with putti, dancing with garlands. The urns are covered with removable lids with openwork decoration and a crowning pinecone. 

A version of these urns exists in the Pilaster Study in Pavlovsk Palace, Saint Petersburg. A different pair, now part of the Hermitage Museum’s collection, was delivered to Tsar Paul I of Russia. He was among the first to obtain urns of this design, having purchased them for Saint Michael's Castle in Saint Petersburg in 1793 via the merchant Jean Mazeau. 

Jean-Baptiste Héricourt (1756-1849)
Jean-Baptiste Héricourt, son of a miller from Charenton, was a contemporary of Pierre-Philippe Thomire. He worked until 1829, and lived at the corner of Rue Neuve Orleans and Faubourg Saint-Martin. 

Hericourt’s reputation speaks for itself: he crafted objects of import, and several of his models became classics. It therefore comes as no surprise that the authorities of the department of Seine Jean-Baptiste chose Héricourt, along with Thomire & Cie, Duport Père et Fils, Claude Galle and André-Antoine Ravrio, to represent their craft at the fourth Exposition des produits de l’industrie Française (Exhibition of Products of French Industry) in 1806, where Héricourt was awarded an honourable mention.

Literature:
Jean Dominique Augarde, “Une nouvelle vision du bronze et des bronziers sous le Directoire et l’Empire”, L’Estampille l’Objet d’Art, n°398, januari 2005, p. 62-85.
Jean Dominique Augarde, “Jean-Baptiste Héricourt. Un bronzier à l’épreuve du temps”, L’Estampille l’Objet d’Art, n°584, december 2021, p. 64-77.