Ref. 1334

Tahan

Cabinet- & fine Boxes maker
(1813-1892)

An enameled bronze casket

Signed Tahan, Boult des Italiens 11

France
Circa 1870

Height : 11 cm (4,3 in.) ; Width : 27,5 cm (10,8 in.) ; Depth : 13 cm (5 in.)

A lovely rectangular casket made in gilded bronze, entirely decorated with polychrome “champlevé” enamel rosettes and stylized flowers, and adorned on the top with a monogram. It has preserved its original purple silk velvet lining interior.

Biography

Jean-Pierre-Alexandre Tahan took over his father business, already specialized in jewel caskets and liquor cellarettes as well as in luxurious small furniture registered under the « tabletterie » category. Thanks to him, the Tahan company knew much success and became one of the most famous firms in Paris. They settled rue de la Paix, from 1849 until 1866, then boulevard des Italiens, both fancy Parisian addresses under the Second Empire in the newbuilt Opera district. Tahan became also very quickly one of the favorite providers of Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie. He delivered to the imperial palaces numerous tables, vitrines, cellarettes and further fine decorative objects. In other words, he was definitively the great specialist of precious and highly selected objects. The Tahan house participated in various Universal Exhibitions, where they were steadily awarded medals : a silver medal in 1849, another one in London in 1852 and the gold medal in Paris in 1867.