Shepherdess Scene Vase

This is a really nice empire period vase / urn made by one of the Paris area makers around the early 19th century. It is superbly decorated with lots of nice gilding to the top part as well as the foot, a a really good quality tooled gold scene to the one side including two mystical creatures on either side of a bird of pray that is standing on an urn with a snake in its tallons. Kind of like the Mexicaneagle with the snake on a cactus symbol sanse cactus :) The vase has a handle in the shape of a lady bust with wings to either side which are just superb. The front has a fun scene of a shepherdess holding a lamb with a sheep in front of her in a landscape surrounding on it - reminds me of the Mary had a little lamb story. The scene is really well done but the paint is a bit odd for porcelain. More texture to it kind of like oil paint instead of the really smooth porcelain paints one usually comes across. Not sure why! The vase is in superb condition - it displays perfectly - but does have one wing tip of the handles chipped off, a small chip to the foot where it attaches to the main body with a hairline close to that spot and another chip to a corner of the base. A few small paint flakes to the scene. Really a fantastic piece and the gilding is in amazing condition for its age! The piece is not marked which is normal for this area and time period. It is 10.5 inches tall, 5 inches wide and and 3.75 inches deep. The bottom is glazed which is unusual and is more often seen on English pieces of this period but I am pretty sure it is French. Please email me for more information or other pictures.