Painter (1816-1899)

« The young Horsewoman » and « The Girl with the Hat »

 French school
Signed C^t Brochart

Circa 1870

Pastel on paper 

Height : 45 cm (17,7 in.) ; Width : 31,5 cm (12,4 in.)
With frame – Height : 74 cm (29,1 in.) ; Width : 56 cm (22 in.)

This charming pair of pastels forms a perfect pair and brilliantly illustrates the talent of Constant Joseph Brochart, a 19th-century portraitist. A specialist in ethereal, idealized female figures, the artist here embraces the Neo-Rococo style that so fascinated the bourgeoisie of the Second Empire, drawing inspiration from the elegance of the age of Watteau and Fragonard.

“The Young Horsewoman,” depicted in a three-quarter view, casts a gentle yet confident glance at the viewer. She is dressed in an elegant, whimsical ensemble consisting of a white satin jacket with silvery sheen, cinched at the waist with a wide coral-colored sash. The voluminous lace ruff, reminiscent of the 17th century, and the gray felt hat, adorned with ostrich feathers, frame her porcelain-complexioned face. She delicately holds a riding crop in her right hand, adding a touch of playfulness to the composition.

Echoing the first piece perfectly, “The Girl with the Hat” features a young woman in an 18th-century-inspired outfit. She wears a sumptuous blue dress, richly embroidered with gold motifs and accented by abundant ruffles of lace at the cuffs. Her innocent face is accentuated by a charming woven straw hat adorned with a garland of fresh roses. The treatment of the fabrics is remarkable, playing on the transparency of the muslin and the weightiness of the embroidered silk. She holds a small dog in her arms, adding to her air of purity.

With this pair of portraits, Brochart demonstrates his mastery of the pastel technique, his medium of choice for capturing the softness of the skin and the fluidity of fabrics. The skillfully directed light caresses the faces of these two elegant women, bringing out the vibrancy of the colors.

Biography

Constant Joseph Brochart was born in 1816 in Pecq, in the province of Hainaut, and died in 1899 in Paris. Student at the Beaux-Art in Lille, where he won a first-class medal in 1837, he exhibited at the Salon from 1845 to 1862. Considered the driving force behind the revival of pastel painting in France by the Journal des Artistes (May 14, 1899), he specialized in portraits of elegant ladies, which brought him fame.

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Bronze-caster (1822-1897)

« The Boules Game »

France
Circa 1870

Signed Détrier

Gilded and patinated bronze

Height : 35 cm (13,8 in.) ; Width: 38 cm (14,9 in.) ; Depth : 34 cm (13,4 in.)

Charming, intimate group in patinated bronze with golden highlights, depicting a genre scene that is fully in keeping with the 19th-century historicist style, which sought to recreate the elegance of the 18th century with nostalgia and precision. Two gentlemen dressed in mid-18th-century fashion, engaged in a game of boules, are seated around a game table, perfect example of miniaturized cabinetmaking, with its curved legs adorned with acanthus scrolls and asymmetrical shells typical of Rocaille art. The table’s apron is adorned with a frieze of godrons.

This bronze sculpture is a precious testament to the 19th-century fascination with the Siècle des Lumières, capturing the spirit of conversation, leisure, and elegance of that bygone era.

Biography

Pierre-Louis Détrier (1822–1897) was a bronze sculptor born in Vougécourt in Haute-Saône. A student of Guérard, he made his debut at the Salon in 1866 and received an honorable mention in 1885 for a marble group depicting La jeune mère (No. 3616). The Bulletin of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Langres wrote in 1890 that he “had made a name for himself among French sculptors” and highlighted his most notable works at the Salons des Champs-Élysées, including the aforementioned La jeune mère (1885), Le Nid (1889), and Grande Sœur (1890). He continued to exhibit there until 1896.

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Designer and Art object Editor
(attributed to)

Planter

China, Daoguang Era (1820-1850)
France, circa 1875

Patinated and gilt bronze, cloisonné enamel

Height : 41,5 cm (16,3 in.) ; Width : 50 cm (19,7 in.) ; Depth : 34 cm (13,4 in.)

An elegant planter consisting of a polychrome enamel bowl with a patinated and gilded bronze frame. It rests on four volute feet with elephant heads, finished in a black patina accented with gold on the salient parts. The elephants are connected by openwork, gilded Oriental-style lambrequins suspended from a series of friezes featuring pearls, medallions, and heart-shaped motifs. The planter is adorned with an elegant enamel decoration on a blue background, cloisonné in gold, with motifs of flowering branches and butterflies. Two medallions on a black background stand out, ornated with the same iconographic repertoire. The handles take the form of two oriental bronze dragons, patinated and gilded like the elephants forming the feet. The creatures are held to the rim of the planter by their tails.

Europe has a long tradition of casting all manner of objects in bronze, from coconuts to nautiluses and even Chinese porcelain. The bronze artist’s task was to enhance these curiosities and masterpieces from afar. Heirs to this practice, the foundries and bronze artisans of the late 19th century were no exception to the rule: Barbedienne, Maison Marnyhac, and L’Escalier de Cristal were among the firms that devoted themselves to this practice, adapting it to the tastes of the era. As a result, many blue-enameled objects with floral decorations characteristic of 19th-century Chinese production were mounted, such as tea tables, pedestal tables, or planters.

biography

L’Escalier de Cristal, Parisian firm created about 1800 by Mme veuve Desarnaud, famous under the French « Restoration » for its decorative objects combining crystal and bronze. She was awarded a gold medal at the 1819 Paris Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie for an outstanding gilt-bronze mounted crystal dressing table. Located in Paris, at the Palais-Royal, Galerie de Valois, L’Escalier de Cristal was bought out around 1830 by Boin, and then by Lahoche in 1840. The company owed its rise to a position amongst the most important Paris decorative wares shops to Lahoche, who expanded considerably the business and entered later in partnership with his son-in-law to set up in 1852 Lahoche et Pannier. In 1872 Emile Pannier led alone the firm, and then his sons from 1885 to 1923, whom gave the name of Pannier Frères to the company, located at the corner of Scribe and Auber streets, next to the new built Paris Opera house. L’Escalier de Cristal suggesting also since the 1880’s furniture and art bronze pieces, was several times awarded medals at the various International Exhibitions held in Paris, London and New York, and for instance a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. Numerous artists, such Emile Gallé, Louis Majorelle and Gabriel Viardot worked for the L’Escalier de Cristal’s worldwide renown, and introduced then some of their greatest Japanese style creations (adorned with « cloisonné » enamels, Japanese motifs,…).

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Bronze-casters (19th Century)
(attributed to)

« Acanthus » Chandelier

France
Circa 1870

Crystal, Patinated and gilded Bronze

Height : 130 cm (51,2 in.) ; Diameter : 100 cm (39,4 in.)

Exceptional Louis XVI-inspired twelve-light chandelier in “canon de fusil” patinated and gilded bronze, richly adorned with rosettes, garlands, pearls, prisms, and cut faceted crystal pendants. The central shaft, composed of a basin draped with engraved interlacing motifs and ending in a finial decorated with foliage and tassels, is surmounted by a fluted column crowned with an urn. It supports two tiers of six twisted light-arms with double scrolls, highlighted with acanthus leaves, featuring palm leaves with hanging seed motifs, and embellished with quivers and torches. The upper section of the chandelier is formed by finely chased lambrequins suspended between three architecturally designed supports lavishly decorated with cascading acanthus leaves and tassels. The top flares into a plume of swirling acanthus leaves.

biography

Lacarrière established a factory in 1825 at 3 bis, rue Sainte-Elisabeth. He specialized and excelled in the application of bronze in lighting fixtures. He received an honorable mention in 1834, a bronze medal in 1839, and a silver medal in 1844 for a large candelabra with a triangular base, prefiguring the one presented at the Universal Exhibition in London in 1862. He also participated in the design of the chandelier for the Queen’s Theatre in London. From 1851 to 1870, he changed his company name several times. Lacarrière, Delatour et Cie (active in 1870) cast and chiseled the majority of the lampposts, candelabras and chandeliers of the Paris Opera, including that of the hall, designed by Charles Garnier, the architect of the Opera, and modeled by Corboz. At the Universal Exhibition of 1878, the catalog wrote that “their exhibition demonstrates great skill and very pure taste in lighting bronzes intended for private homes.” In 1900, the company named Lacarrière et Cie supplied the fourteen monumental candelabras of the Pont Alexandre III, in Paris; a true tour de force at the time, since the largest of these pieces weighed 667 kg, for a height of 4.50 m and a diameter of 4.70 m.

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Goldsmith (active 1863-1888)

Samovar

France – Circa 1870

Signed MEGEMOND PARIS

Silvered bronze

Height: 49 cm (19,3 in.) ; Width: 34 cm (13,4 in.) ; Depth : 33 cm (12,9 in.)

Elegant silver-plated bronze samovar, composed in its upper part of a handled teapot, surmounted by a lid with a finely worked finial, and flanked on either side by zoomorphic spouts, contributing to the visual balance of the piece. The body is adorned with a monogrammed medallion suggesting an aristocratic or bourgeois commission, set within a cartouche with cut edges and linked to the spouts by drapery with scalloped borders. It rests on a stand composed of curved uprights in volute form, connected by stretchers decorated with interlacing motifs and female mascarons, and terminating in scrolls integrated into a faceted tray. Upon this tray, raised on a stepped platform, sits a circular reservoir designed to keep the water hot.

The whole rests on a silver-plated bronze tray with a shaped mirror plate and a moulded border of laurel reeds, crafted by the silversmith Boin-Taburet.

The samovar is a vessel designed for the preparation and maintenance of hot water for tea. Of Russian origin, this device appeared in the 18th century in the metallurgical centers of Tula and quickly spread throughout Western Europe as both a utilitarian and prestige object. In its 19th-century Westernized form—particularly in France under the Second Empire—the samovar evolved into a display piece incorporated into aristocratic tea services. While retaining its thermal function, with a central reservoir heated by an internal firebox or a spirit burner, it also became a true showcase of silversmithing craftsmanship.

biography

The products of the house of Joseph Mégemond, located in the Passage des Petites Écuries, received several honorary distinctions: a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1878, a gold medal (honor prize) in 1880, and a gold medal (excellence prize) in 1887. He worked as a silversmith from 1863 to 1888, the year his silver-plating business was acquired by Paul Canaux.

The two French goldsmiths George Boin and his son-in-law Emile Taburet created around 1875 in Paris the company Boin-Taburet. They made many silver pieces inspired by the beautiful services of the eighteenth century. At the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, Georges Boin presented a “service de toilette” inspired by the work of François-Thomas Germain (1726-1791), and then at the Universal Exhibition of 1889, several epergnes, including one of them executed after drawings by the famous artist Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695-1750), as well as tea sets of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. Boin-Taburet firm also exhibited a tureen and platter after Pierre Germain’s one (1645-1684) for the Jockey Club, located then on Scribe street in Paris in 1863. Through its lavish events to various international shows, Boin-Taburet company contributed to the revival styles of the eighteenth century.

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Floral Bowl with Tritons

France
Circa 1870

Porcelain, Gilded bronze

Height : 30 cm (11,8 in.) ; Width : 35,5 cm (13,9 in.) ; Depth : 25 cm (9,8 in.)

Beautiful polychrome porcelain bowl with a turquoise ground inspired by Sèvres “celestial blue,” enriched with a gilt decoration of scattered lozenge motifs dotted with small flowers, surrounding reserved cartouches with gilt rocaille frames depicting polychrome floral bouquets of roses, pansies, and forget-me-nots, painted with great naturalistic delicacy. The interior of the bowl, left with a white ground, is adorned with floral garlands and bouquets.
It is set in an ornate mount of finely chased and gilt bronze, composed of two lateral handles formed by scrolling acanthus leaves accented with beading and surmounting satyr heads; a gadrooned pedestal foot decorated with laurel leaves; and a quadripod base representing tritons as atlantes, reclining on asymmetrical rocaille-inspired volutes.

This bowl, belonging to the grand tradition of mounted objects, reflects a 19th-century production in the taste of the 18th century (more specifically the Louis XV style), characterized by the exuberance of rocaille decoration (asymmetry, scrolling foliage, tritons), the combination of precious materials (porcelain and gilt bronze), and a taste for spectacular centerpiece objects. It forms part of a prolific yet often highly refined production, oscillating between imitations of the royal Sèvres manufactory and original creations intended for a bourgeois or aristocratic clientele, appreciative of luxury and technical virtuosity.

biography

Since the discovery of kaolin, needed material for the making of porcelain, porcelain factories also called porcelain manufactures are on the increase in all France and naturally in Paris. Most of those manufactures worked in the 18th century under the protection of a member of the Royal family, such the comte de Provence, future Louis XVIII, who protected the Clignancourt manufacture. But during and the 19th century, numerous pieces did bear no making mark. It was then almost imposssible to attribute them to any particular Parisian factory, hence the expression “Paris porcelain” or “Vieux Paris” including all those various productions.

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Cabinet-maker (1817-1884)

Flat Desk

France
Circa 1860

Rosewood, Gilded bronze

Height : 73,5 cm (28,9 in.) ; Length : 118,5 cm (46,6 in.) ; Depth: 64 cm (25,2 in.)

Beautiful Louis XV style desk in rosewood veneer and chiseled and gilded bronze. It is decorated on all sides, in cartouches circled by a frieze of eggs and foliage, with a marquetry of diamonds. Covered with a top sheathed with black leather and surrounded by a mold, it opens on one side with three drawers. The whole rest on four cabriole legs decorated at the corner with ram’s heads and ending with four leafy hooves.

biography

The Wassmus were a family of cabinet-makers active in Paris from around 1815 to 1868, suppliers to the Imperial Garde-Meuble under the Second Empire, specializing in the creation of prestigious marquetry furniture. Under the company name Wassmus brothers first operated Jean-Henri-Chrétien (1784-1858) and his brother Jean-Henri-Christophe (1786/1864) then their sons, including Henri-Léonard (1817-1884), who created and designed most of the furniture coming out of the workshop. Working as a family, it is difficult to precisely attribute the works by author. They specialized in the manufacture of very high-quality furniture, particularly in the Boulle, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon III styles. The Louis XVI-style chests of drawers furnishing the Hôtel de Marigny in Paris are by Henri-Léonard Wassmus ; they come from the Prince Imperial’s bedroom at the Élysée Palace. In 1844, they were awarded a silver medal at the Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie, and exhibited at the Universal Exhibitions in Paris in 1855 and 1867.

bibliography

Les ébénistes du XIXe siècle, Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Ed. de l’Amateur, 1984, p. 620-621

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Sculptor-Ornemanist
(1827-1875)

G. Viot et Cie

Compagnie des Marbres Onyx d’Algérie
(active from the 2^nde part of the 19^th Century)

(attributed to)

Orientalist Planter

France
Circa 1870

Enamel, Gilded bronze, Algerian Onyx

Height : 17 cm (6,7 in.) ; Length : 44,5 cm (17,5 in.) ; Depth : 24,5 cm (9,6 in.)

Fine Orientalist planter of rectangular form in Algerian onyx and finely chiselled and gilded bronze. The upper section, shaped in an arabesque profile, is accentuated by a frieze of water leaves. Rectangular recessed cartouches and raised square reserves are set with gilded bronze plaques decorated with stylized cloisonné enamel of Persian inspiration, composed of interlacing patterns and geometric motifs in a vibrant palette of turquoise blues, pinks, and greens. The shorter sides are adorned with molded onyx cabochons embellished with two pointed finials, and the whole rests on four gilt bronze claw feet.

This planter presents itself as a display object characteristic of decorative arts production in the second half of the 19th century, when a taste for exoticism and precious materials was integrated into a historicist and eclectic aesthetic. It reflects the technical refinement and the fascination with Orientalism that defined the Second Empire period.

Biography

The sculptor Eugène Cornu (1827-1899), installed in Paris at N.29 rue Popincourt, after having worked as a designer and then director for the renowned company Tahan (1813-1892), worked closely from 1858 with the « Compagnie des Marbres Onyx d’Algérie », led by Gustave Viot (1828 – 1897) and created by Alphonse Pallu (1808-1880) on June 14th 1858. This company refers to the exploitation of onyx, known since antiquity but rediscovered in 1849 in Oran Province, Algeria, by Del Monte, a marble worker. It opened in 1863 a shop on Boulevard des Italiens N.24, in Paris. In the mid 1860’s, the name of the company changed to “G. Viot & Cie” and produced, after models created by the most well-known sculptors, such as Eugène Cornu, Albert Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) (Victoria & Albert Museum, Inv. 9070-1863), Charles Cordier (1827-1905) (Orsay, Inv. RF 2996) ou Louis-Ernest Barrias (1841-1905) (Orsay, Inv. RF 1409), luxurious furniture and art objects, incorporating onyx marble and bronze, with sometimes enamel, a combination then considered as a novelty and become quickly highly prized among wealthy collectors. They showed together on their booth at the 1867 Universal Exhibition held in Paris a fine pair of onyx, bronze and enamel vases and their stands with elephants figures (signed « G. Viot et Cie, Exposition de 1867, Eugène Cornu Inventeur » ; Catalogue Officiel de l’Exposition, groupe III, classe XIV, « meubles de luxe », n°65) for which they won the Gold Medal (Rapports du Jury International, Exposition Universelle de 1867 à Paris, 1868, t. III, groupe III, classe XV, chapitre II, § 2, p°45 & 46). Around 1873, Eugène Cornu became director of the Company and replaced G. Viot, which took then the name of « Société des Onyx d’Algérie E. Cornu et Cie ». Around 1878, the company was then headed to H. Journet from which it took his name. That firm remained opened until the beginning of the 20th century.

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Bronze-caster (active from 1831 to 1864)

Pair of « Cupids »  jardinières 

Signed H. PICARD

France – Circa 1860

Gilded bronze

Height : 20,5 cm (8 in.) ; Length :  64 cm (25,2 in.)  ; Width : 37 cm (14,5 in.)

A fine pair of oval jardinieres in chiselled and gilded bronze, with inner liners. They are adorned in relief and enhanced by a subtle interplay of burnished and matte finishes, featuring leafy scrolls, asymmetrical volutes, shells, and clasps structuring the composition in a centered symmetrical rhythm. At the center stand out two winged cupids, rendered in the round, entwined in a tender embrace. Their supple modeling, full fleshy forms, rounded facial features, and curly hair reflect a desire for naturalism tempered by academic idealization. A second pair of cupids, arranged as pendants, repeat the same gesture. They surmount a medallion depicting Venus.
The lateral handles, pierced and asymmetrical, unfold into broad vegetal scrolls populated with flowers and foliage, in a distinctly Rocaille spirit. The base, composed of leafy scrollwork resting on small discreet supports, lends the ensemble a visual lightness despite the richness of the decoration.

The decorative vocabulary draws upon the Louis XV style in the dynamism of its lines and the abundance of scrollwork, while the overall composition, strictly axial and balanced, reveals a rationality inherited from Neoclassicism. This synthesis is characteristic of nineteenth-century Parisian bronziers, within the context of the revived taste for the eighteenth century under the Second Empire.

The theme of cupids refers to an iconography of ancient origin, reinterpreted during the Renaissance and widely disseminated in the French decorative arts. A symbol of love, abundance, or domestic felicity, their presence is particularly suited to a jardinière, an object associated with the cultivation of flowers and the ornamentation of bourgeois interiors. Intended to hold floral arrangements, ornamental plants or fruits, theses jardinieres belonged to a type of display furniture, likely conceived for a salon or boudoir. It testifies to the taste for spectacular pieces, both functional and sculptural, that contributed to the staging of domestic luxury.

Biography

Henri Picard (active 1831–1864), gilder and bronzier, established himself in Paris at 6 rue de Jarente from 1831 to 1839, then at 10 rue de la Perle from 1840 to 1864. He carried out the gilding of the Petits Appartements of Napoleon III at the Louvre Palace. He produced a wide variety of works, such as a Japonist inkwell and Pompeian-style centrepieces. Henri Picard earned his reputation for the exceptional quality of his jardinières and fireplace garnitures.

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Bronze-caster (1805-1886)
(attributed to)

Pair of Tritons

France
Circa 1870

Gilded and patinated bronze, Griotte Marble

Height : 35 cm (13,7 in.) ; Width : 28 cm (11 in.) ; Depth : 16 cm (7 in.)

Pair of patinated bronze sculptures with gilded highlights depicting two juvenile tritons slightly turned inward, creating a visual dialogue.
These hybrid figures combine the torso of a child, evoking Cupid, with an ichthyomorphic lower part forming a coiled tail. This typology refers to the iconographic tradition of tritons, marine deities belonging to the retinue of Poseidon/Neptune in Greco-Roman mythology. However, the youthful and graceful treatment, far removed from the bearded triton of Antiquity, reflects instead a decorative reinterpretation from the modern period, in which the marine imagination is softened and integrated into an ornamental aesthetic. The tritons are shown holding or surrounded by stylized aquatic elements: shells, aquatic foliage, and broad-petaled flowers.
Each sculpture rests on a molded circular base in griotte marble, truncated at the rear, a material widely used in European decorative arts from the 17th to the 19th century, lending the whole a rich chromatic foundation and a sense of luxury.

Biography

Victor Paillard (1805-1886) was one of the most distinguished bronze casters in Paris during the second half of the 19^th Century. He was taught chasing by Jean-François Denière (1774-1866), then opened in the 1830’s his own workshop making “Art bronzes and Furnishing bronzes”, settled n°105, boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris. He executed first small objects, then cast statuettes, candelabra, clocks as well as impressive sized torcheres. He appeared to the public for the first time at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1839 and worked for the greatest French sculptors, such as Pradier, Barye and Carrier-Belleuse. He exhibited extensively with great success being mentioned for the quality of his work at the famous 1851 and 1862 London Universal Exhibitions, and the 1855, 1867 and 1878 Universal Exhibitions then held in Paris. Paillard was there celebrated by everyone ; John Burney Waring ilustrates a gilt-bronze mirror by him in his “Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture, 1862 (Plate 92)”, which is a comprehensive record of the finest pieces on show in the London Exhibition. At that time, he was awarded a prize medal and the exceptional quality of his work was commented in all jury reports. Appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by the French Government, Paillard employed since the 1850’s a hundred workers and proposed to his wealthy clients about four hundred models, cast in bronze not only after famous sculptors’ works, but also after his own creations. It is especially interesting that his “Cherub” figures, such as those ones presented here were particularly singled out for their charm and popularity by commentators at both the 1862 and 1867 Universal Exhibitions. Burney Waring noted that they portrayed the “happy and innocent moods of childhood”.

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France
Circa 1870

Rhodonite, Gilded bronze

Height : 14,5 cm (5,7 in.) ; Base : 8 x 8 cm (3,1 x 3,1 in.)

This pair of candlesticks is composed of a cylindrical shaft in polished rhodonite, set within an elaborate mount of finely chased and gilded bronze. Each candlestick rests on a tripartite base that emphasizes the overall stability and balance of the composition.
The upper section is formed by a circular gilded bronze bobèche with a molded profile, adorned with an engraved frieze of stylized geometric motifs. The shaft is encircled by vertical bronze struts, finely chased, extending into curved feet decorated with leaves and stylized hoof motifs.
The ornamentation is distinguished by the presence of ram’s heads sculpted in the round, applied to the upper part of the shaft. From these mascarons spring garlands of fruit and foliage, lending the ensemble an iconography inspired by Antiquity and associated with themes of abundance and strength. The animal heads, with their spiraled horns and naturalistic modeling, testify to a high level of technical mastery.

The combination of gilt bronze and rhodonite, a decorative material rare in European decorative arts, places these candlesticks within the tradition of early nineteenth-century luxury, in the Neoclassical taste. The quality of the gilding, still well preserved, together with the precision of the stone carving, suggests a commission intended for an aristocratic or grand ceremonial interior. The whole displays remarkable stylistic and material coherence, illustrating the alliance between lapidary arts and gilt-bronze furnishings in European decorative arts.

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Elegant pair of Vases

France
Circa 1860

Porcelain

Height : 51 cm (20 in.) ; Diameter : 18 cm (7 in.)

Pair of baluster-shaped vases in hard-paste porcelain, resting on a molded circular foot and flaring toward a neck with a flat rim highlighted by a gilt line. Each vase is fitted with two applied lateral handles, featuring openwork and gilded decoration with sinuous profiles, reflecting the historicist ornamental vocabulary of the mid-19th century. The surface is covered in a deep blue ground, richly enhanced with gilded decoration composed of leafy scrolls, volutes, trellis patterns, and stylized floral motifs. The design is organized around large oval reserves framed by gilt borders. On one side of each vase, the reserves depict animal and ornithological scenes painted in polychrome, showing exotic birds in idealized landscapes. These are rendered with great naturalistic precision and a subtle palette, reflecting the influence of zoological publications and the Orientalist taste then in vogue. On the opposite sides, the reserves are adorned with luxuriant floral bouquets composed of roses, dahlias, peonies, and garden flowers, executed with a keen sense of modeling, petal transparency, and chromatic gradation, characteristic of high-quality porcelain flower painting.

The alternation of decoration—bird scenes and floral compositions—together with the overall symmetry of the ornamentation, gives this pair a strong visual unity while highlighting the technical virtuosity of the painters and gilders. The ensemble attests to the expertise of the Valentine manufactory, active in the 19th century and renowned for its luxurious productions intended for a bourgeois and aristocratic clientele. It stands within the French tradition of display porcelain, heir both to the models of Sèvres and to the eclectic taste of the Second Empire.

The Valentine manufacture was a porcelain factory founded in 1832, following the discovery of a vein of kaolin in the central Pyrenees, at Saint -Gaudens. It was the only porcelain factory located in the south of France. Driven by political troubles, former porcelain makers of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, founded in the early nineteenth century a factory in Toulouse. By 1820, this factory named “Fouque and Arnoux, earthenware manufacturers, Place Saint-Sernin in Toulouse”, with seventy workers, installed a second factory in Saint-Gaudens, on the banks of the river Garonne, where the two factories finally consolidated in 1832. The factory employing up to 250 workers in the 1850s, was facing the Valentine hill, from where the 6 ovens of the factory were refuelling with wood, and which gave then its name to the porcelain wares. These “Valentine porcelain wares”, produced until 1878 in Saint-Gaudens, were made in pure white and milky hard-paste, with very bright enamel, and whose famous ”Valentine Blue” vases were colored with cobalt-blue. The decor was often enriched with floral bouquets and gold lines painted on enamel.

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Bronze-caster (active from 1831 to 1864)
(attributed to)

 « Bacchantes » gueridon

France
Circa 1860

Gilded bronze, Malachite

Height : 80,5 cm (31,7 in.) ; Diameter : 104 cm (40,9 in.)

Rare circular gueridon resting on a tripod base in finely chiseled and gilded bronze, supporting a matched Ural malachite top, circled by a frieze of water leaves and pearls.
The base is composed of three bacchantes executed fully in the round, presented as caryatids and joined together by leafy scrolls and cartouches adorned with mascarons. The figures, with their slender proportions and idealized anatomy, adopt a dynamic posture, their raised arms supporting the band beneath the top.
The triangular base with rounded angles is enriched with neoclassical motifs such as palmettes, gadroons, and acanthus leaves.

Through the exceptional quality of the casting, the finesse of the chasing, and the masterful balance between sculpture and decorative architecture, this gueridon belongs to the tradition of mid-19th-century Parisian state furniture. It may be attributed to the bronze-maker Henri Picard, whose workshop distinguished itself by works of extreme refinement intended for an aristocratic and international clientele, and by a learned reinterpretation of Antique and Renaissance models characteristic of the eclectic taste of the Second Empire.

Biography

Henri Picard (active 1831-1864), gilder and bronzemaker, settled in Paris at 6 rue de Jarente from 1831 to 1839, then at 10 rue de la Perle from 1840 to 1864. He carried out the gilding of the Petits Appartements of Napoleon III at the Louvre Palace. He produced a wide variety of works, such as a Japonist inkwell and Pompeian-style centerpieces. Henri Picard earned his reputation for the exceptional quality of his jardinières and fireplace garnitures.

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Bronze-caster (19th Century)

“Cupids” Chandelier

France
Circa 1880

Gilded and patinated bronze, Cristal

Height : 100 cm (39,4 in.) ; Diameter : 70 cm (27,6 in.)

Charming gilded and patinated bronze chandelier composed of nine branches ending with illuminating roses. The central lattice basket of pearls and crystal rosettes supports three seated cherubs carrying luminous torches. The whole is suspended by ribboned uprights ending in a ceiling light with openwork foliage decoration.

 
A “B M” mark with a workshop number (019) indicates a stamp from the Boin-Masson firm, a Parisian bronze worker active in the late 19th century and precursor of the Boin-Taburet house.

Commentary

The Boin-Masson firm emerged in Paris during the Second Empire, at a time when major artistic bronze workshops were flourishing (Barbedienne, Beurdeley, Christofle, etc.). Boin-Masson was founded through the partnership of Alexandre Boin and Étienne Masson, both master ornamentalists working with gilded bronze, crystal mounts, and decorative chiselling inspired by the 18th century. The firm established itself in the bronziers’ district of Paris, first on rue Amelot and later on rue Chapon. Their pieces are signed or marked “B M” followed by a workshop number. Toward the end of the 19th century (circa 1880–1900), the firm passed into the hands of Georges Boin and Émile Taburet, becoming the Boin-Taburet company.

Sconces, chandeliers, candlesticks and other candelabra, which illuminate the rooms, grow considerably during the seventeenth century. Although already existing in the 17th century, the word “chandelier” was only used late because until the 18th century in the old inventories, the chandelier is designated by the word “candlestick”. Their refinement attests to the social status of their owner. At the end of the 19th century, major firms such as Barbedienne, Beurdeley, Christofle, and Boin-Masson / Boin-Taburet specialized in mounts inspired by the 18th century, but reinterpreted in accordance with the Second Empire taste.

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Designer and Art object Editor
(attributed to)

Pair of “Floral” Wall-Lights

France
Circa 1890

Porcelain, Gilded bronze, Painted sheet metal

Height : 50 cm (19,7 in.) ; Width : 31 cm (12,2 in.) ; Depth : 14 cm (5,5 in.)

Pair of wall-lights with two light-arms in sheet metal, gilded bronze and painted porcelain with gold highlights. Each composed of a half-cup with floral decoration in cartouches on a pink pastille background, surmounted by a bouquet formed of polychrome porcelain flowers and painted sheet metal leaves. They rest on a small gilded bronze console with leaf and flower motifs.

Biography

“L’Escalier de Cristal”, an old and famous Parisian firm, specialized in glass products and ceramics but also suggested furniture and bronze sculptures. It was led from 1885 to 1923 by Emile Pannier’s sons, who gave the name of Pannier Frères to the society, located at the corner of Scribe street and Auber street, next to the new built Paris Opera house. Their Japanese style creations were among many others much appreciated by the critics and the public. They were awarded many medals at various exhibitions, such as the Gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. Lots of artists participated in that world success, such as Emile Gallé, who gave to Pannier Frères the exclusive rights of some of his models, or François-Eugène Rousseau, who designed many vases and gave the model of his successful Japanese style dining-set as well. This set was made by the Creil et Montereau Manufacture. In the Japanese style furniture branch, many famous makers such as Majorelle from Nancy, Edouard Lièvre or Gabriel Viardot worked for Pannier Frères. Some pieces are to be seen in the greatest museums: the Ermitage in Saint-Petersburg, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.“L’Escalier de Cristal” was sometimes the exclusive owner of the models and then those pieces were just signed by “L’Escalier de Cristal” or sometimes beside the artist signature. But “L’Escalier de Cristal” was also very creative, completing pieces with superb, gilded bronzes, glass or enameled panels and often including authentic Japanese or Chinese elements.

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Bronze-caster (1815-1903)
(attributed to)                                                                   

« Cupid » Bowl

France
Circa 1870

Gilded and silvered bronze, Crystal

Height : 23 cm (9 in.) ; Length : 46,5 cm (18,3 in.) ; Depth : 34 cm (13,4 in.)

Beautiful oval-shaped bowl with flared edges, in engraved crystal with floral interlacing decoration. It is enclosed in an elegant openwork frame in chiseled and gilded bronze with engraved foliage decoration extended by a beaded piedouche. The whole rests on a quadrilobed base, on which sit two Atlantean cupids in silvered bronze holding a drape, decorated on one side with a monogrammed cartouche and on the other with a palmette.

Biography

Guillaume Denière (Paris, 1815-1903) studied art under the direction of the renowned French ornemanist Aimé Chenavard (1798-1838) and the architect Henri Labrouste (1801-1875). He took over from his father, established since 1804 at n°15, rue Vivienne in Paris. The firm is prosperous, with four hundred workers satisfying the numerous orders from king Louis Philippe and wealthy private clients. Following in his father’s footsteps, the son produced bronzes for furniture, candelabras, clocks and table centerpieces. He collaborated with numerous artists including Carrier-Belleuse (1848-1913) and Constant Sévin (1821-1888). He delivered several clocks (Genius of the Arts, Woman reading with a dog) for the Tuileries Palace in 1852. The table centerpieces, supple and ingenious in style, as testified by that of the Duc d’Orléans (1842) were acclaimed by the critics. His works were very often remarked at the Universal Exhibitions, to such an extent that Emperor Napoleon III^rd bought a mantel garniture at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. His fame spread around the world. In 1854, he delivered a spectacular bronze centerpiece to the Russian Ambassador Kisselef, as well as decorative bronzes for the vice-king of Egypt, Saïd Pacha, in 1862, and the King of Cambodia, Norodom Ist (Screen of the Throne room).

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Clockmakers & Bronze-casters (Firm founded in 1813)
(attributed to)

Pair of Andirons

France
Circa 1870

Gilded and patinated bronze

Height : 61 cm (24 in.) ; minimum Length : 101 cm (39,7 in.) / maximum Length : 150 cm (59 in.) ; Depth : 20 cm (7,8 in.)

Large pair of Louis XVI style andirons and its fender in patinated and gilded chiseled bronze. The andirons are decorated with fluted columns with asparagus, surmounted by flaming cassolette, in front of which are seated winged Cupids who have laid down their quivers and are blowing to fan the flame. They rest on feet hooves-shaped feet. The fender is decorated with an openwork frieze of interlacing centered with small flowers.

Biography

The company Raingo Frères, founded in Paris in 1813, installed their workshops around 1830 at n°8 Touraine Street, then at n°102 Vieille-du-Temple Street. The four Raingo brothers first known as clockmakers, added to their 1841 sale catalog some art bronze works as well as decorative bronze pieces. In 1860, they supplied the palaces of the Emperor Napoleon III. First specialized in Antique statues reproductions, they cast then models sculpted by contemporary artists such James Pradier (1790-1852), Albert Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) et Auguste Moreau (1834-1917). Present at the Universal Exhibitions of 1862 in London and of 1867, 1878 and 1889 in Paris, it won awards each time, including the gold medal in 1889.

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France
Circa 1860

Giltwood

Height : 183 cm (72 in.) ; Base : 66 x 66 cm (25,9 x 25,9 in.)

Provenance : Île-de-France Castle

Exceptional pair of Regence style carved and giltwood torcheres holders. The console shaft around which a dolphin is wrapped is richly decorated with leafy scrolls, shells, floral falls and a woman mask. It supports a circular top with palmette and acanthus, surrounded by a frieze of eggs.
The whole rests on a tripod base decorated with friezes of eggs and foliage, decorated with three dolphins leaning against a lambrequin and ending with six leafy feet.

According to the definition of the Dictionary of the Academy, in 1696, the torchère is a “kind of small pedestal table with a high shaft on which one places a torch, a candelabra, candles”.
In the last years of the 17th and 18th centuries, this piece of furniture was particularly appreciated for supporting candelabras and girandoles made of glass or rock crystal intended to illuminate interiors as well as sumptuous galleries such as the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles for which two models of twelve copies each were delivered in 1769, in anticipation of the marriage of the Dauphin: one with figures of children sculpted by François Toussaint Foliot ; the other with a figure of a woman sculpted by Pierre-Edmé Babel after the drawings of Jacques Gonduin, architect of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.

Galerie des Glaces – Palace of Versailles

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Crystal Manufacture

Pair of Crystal Candelabras

France
Circa 1870

Height : 115 cm (45,3 in.) ; Diameter : 53 cm (20,8 in.)

Beautiful pair of Baccarat cut crystal candelabras with ten lights. The central baluster-shaped shaft illuminates with two superimposed rows of six and three light arms with twisted branches, and is topped with a corolla. The whole is decorated with numerous octagons and crystal dart prisms.

Biography

The famous crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18th century, was awarded its first medal in 1823, during the “Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie” for the “brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal” and became then the most renowned French “cristallerie”. Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions, and especially between 1855 and 1867.  In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ».

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France
Circa 1870

Patinated and gilded bronze

Height : 78 cm (30,7 in.) ; Base : 14,5 x 14,5 cm (5,7 in. x 5,7 in.)

Beautiful pair of Louis XVI style amphora-shaped vases in gilded bronze and canon de fusil patinated bronze. The neck, decorated with twisted fluting, is topped with a bouquet composed of three light-arms decorated with acanthus leaves and branches of flowering poppies. The belly is flanked by two scrolled handles on which sit two triton children holding a garland of flowers in their hands.

They rest on a pedestal decorated with acanthus leaves surrounded by a pearl frieze, ending with a molded square base decorated with foliate gadroons.

related work

This pair of candelabras is inspired by a model of vase-candelabras attributed to the famous bronze-caster Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813), in the collections of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Pair of candelabra vases attributed to Pierre Gouthière (Bronzier, 1732-1813) dated around 1770 and kept at the Louvre Museum, OA 5169 1 and 2. A similar pair is kept at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (inv. 72.DF.43)

Biography

Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813) married the widow of François Ceriset and took over Ceriset’s workshop in 1758. Protected by the duc d’Aumont, who commissioned several works from him, he started for the prestigious Menus-Plaisirs du roi. The artistic and technical qualities of his works (he invented the dorure au mat, which provided bronze with the appearance of gold) notably led him to work for Queen Marie-Antoinette, Madame Du Barry and the Comte d’Artois. He was the master of Pierre-Philippe Thomire, another great bronze-caster from the period. Even though he was greatly renowned, he died destitute. Very few of his works are still in existence. They can be found in the greatest museum collections: the Louvre, the Wallace Collection, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or the Frick Collection. 

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Crystal Manufacture
(attributed to)                                       

V. Paillard

Bronze-caster (1805-1886)

Pair of Wall-lights

Signed V^OR PAILLARD A PARIS

France
Circa 1870

Height : 77 cm (30,3 in.) ; Width : 41 cm (16,1 in.) ; Depth : 46 cm (18,1 in.)

Beautiful pair of Second Empire period wall-lights with eight lights in chiseled and gilded bronze decorated with acanthus and rosettes, topped with a musician Cupid playing the flute and ending in the lower part with a mask. The eight twisted and foliated light-arms, ending in binets with gadroons and pearl friezes, are organized around a central shaft decorated with a profile portrait of a woman in a beaded medallion and topped with a crystal dagger. The whole is decorated with numerous rosettes, prisms and crystal pendants.

Biography

Victor Paillard (1805-1886) was one of the most distinguished bronze casters in Paris during the second half of the 19^th Century. He was taught chasing by Jean-François Denière (1774-1866), then opened in the 1830’s his own workshop making “Art bronzes and Furnishing bronzes”, settled n°105, boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris. He executed first small objects, then cast statuettes, candelabra, clocks as well as impressive sized torcheres. He appeared to the public for the first time at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1839 and worked for the greatest French sculptors, such as Pradier, Barye and Carrier-Belleuse. He exhibited extensively with great success being mentioned for the quality of his work at the famous 1851 and 1862 London Universal Exhibitions, and the 1855, 1867 and 1878 Universal Exhibitions then held in Paris. Paillard was there celebrated by everyone ; John Burney Waring ilustrates a gilt-bronze mirror by him in his “Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture, 1862 (Plate 92)”, which is a comprehensive record of the finest pieces on show in the London Exhibition. At that time, he was awarded a prize medal and the exceptional quality of his work was commented in all jury reports. Appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by the French Government, Paillard employed since the 1850’s a hundred workers and proposed to his wealthy clients about four hundred models, cast in bronze not only after famous sculptors’ works, but also after his own creations. It is especially interesting that his “Cherub” figures, such as those ones presented here were particularly singled out for their charm and popularity by commentators at both the 1862 and 1867 Universal Exhibitions. Burney Waring noted that they portrayed the “happy and innocent moods of childhood”.

The famous crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18th century, was awarded its first medal in 1823, during the “Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie” for the “brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal” and became then the most renowned French “cristallerie”. Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions, and especially between 1855 and 1867.  In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ».

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Crystal Manufacture
(attributed to)

Cut-crystal Centerpiece

France
Circa 1880

Crystal, Bronze

Height : 15 cm (5,9 in.) ; Length : 42 cm (16,5 in.) ; Width : 25,5 cm (10 in.)

Elegant oval cut-crystal centerpiece decorated with stylized palmettes on a grid background, resting on a silver patina bronze mount representing blooming branches.

Biography

The famous crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18^th Century, was awarded its first medal in 1823, during the « Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie » for the « brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal » and became then the most renowned French cristallerie. Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture, that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions, and especially between 1855 and 1867. In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ».

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Sculptor
(1824-1887)

E. Colin

Bronze-caster
(2nd half of 19^th century)

Pair of torcheres “Night” and “Day”

Signed A. Carrier and Anc. M^on Colin éditeur – fondeur Paris

France
Late 19^th century

Bronze, Marble

Total height : 257 cm (101,2 in.) ; Base height : 52 cm (20,5 in.) ; Base width : 48×48 cm (18,9×18,9 in.)

Exceptional pair of female torcheres, made in dark patinated bronze with gilded highlights. Each dressed with antique style drapes, and holding up a seven light-arms gilded bronze candelabra. Day, bareheaded and with braided hair ; Night, the head covered by her coat and holding poppy flowers and fruits symbolizing sleep. Resting on an octagonal pedestal in molded marble and decorated with friezes of eggs, and adorned with figures of winged Victories holding a patinated bronze amphora.

These female torchere-holders repeat a common theme created by Carrier-Belleuse, what model for one of the two shapes was presented for the first time at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867. It was then used on a big clock made in collaboration with G. Viot company. The bronze figure holds a large pendulum instead of a candelabrum (reproduced and commented in 1851-1900 Le arti decorative alle grandi Esposizioni Universalli, D. Alcouffe, Idea Libri, p° 78, n° 256.)

Biography

Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887), nick-named the « Clodion of the 19^th century » ; was a very prolific sculptor, treating his decorative objects and his portraits with equal naturalistic rigor, full of charm and life. He entered the Paris Fine-Arts school in 1840, where he studied sculpture under David d’Angers. From the early 1860’s, he won success with his sculptures presented at the French Artists Salon and particularly during the 1867 Salon, where he was awarded a « médaille d’honneur » and the « Légion d’honneur » for his Messiah.
The « new » Paris redesigned by the Baron Haussmann during Napoleon III^rd’s reign, commissioned many of Carriere-Belleuse’s masterpieces : at the Louvre palace with the high-relief « L’Abondance » on the Flore Pavilion (1865), or the sumptuous decoration made for the most famous Parisian palace on the Champs-Elysées Avenue, owned by the Marchioness of Païva. But it is especially with the torcheres-statues of the large staircase of the Paris Opera house (1873), recently built by Charles Garnier, that Carrier-Belleuse meets a huge success with the Parisian public. In the catalogue of the 1878 Universal Exhibition an art critic praised Carrier-Belleuse and added: « Even the English come from London to ask him to work for them ». His busts, nudes, group compositions as well as his candelabras, vases and clocks, all chased remarkably, had a considerable success during the Second Empire.

Emile Colin, a renowned founder installed since 1843, No. 29 Sévigné Street in Paris, cast as soon as 1855 for the most wellknow masters of France sculpture, such A.E. Carrier-Belleuse (Le Zouave), J. Pradier (Les Trois Grâces, Vénus consolant l’Amour) or J.B. Carpeaux since 1875 (L’Enfant au cor),  as well as the famous Parisian silversmith Christofle. Colin used to stamp his bronzes of the mention « Emile Colin & C^ie » from 1882 until 1898.  That mark became later « M. Colin & C^ie » from 1898 until 1906, then « Ancienne Maison Colin, Jollet & C^ie » from 1906 until 1923. Worldwide renowned, Emile Colin sent to the Chicago Universal Exhibition of 1893 bronze works of art, with among them, ormolu mounted marble urns and a large bronze clock. The Colin Company counted then at the turn of the century among the greatest bronze-casters at the sides of Barbedienne, Susse and Siot-Decauville. With the death of Emile Colin in 1900, his own models were sold to the Company Doistal, set up in Paris, Avenue Daumesnil. This firm doesn’t exist anymore. The Colin Company was once again honoured at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition with lights of various styles designed and modelled by Léon Méssagé.

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Elegant pair of Vases

France
Circa 1880

Porcelain

Height : 44 cm (17,3 in.) ; Diameter : 20 cm (7,8 in.)

Lovely pair of amphora vases in Paris porcelain, with polychrome rotating decoration of lilacs, roses, clematis, fuchsias and other natural flowers, on a white background. The foot and neck are enhanced with gold.

Paris porcelain

Since the discovery of kaolin, needed material for the making of porcelain, porcelain factories also called porcelain manufactures are on the increase in all France and naturally in Paris. Most of those manufactures worked in the 18th century under the protection of a member of the Royal family, such the comte de Provence, future Louis XVIII, who protected the Clignancourt manufacture. But during the 18th and 19th century, numerous pieces did bear no making mark. It was then almost impossible to attribute them to any particular Parisian factory, hence the expression “Paris porcelain” or “Vieux Paris” including all those various productions.

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Bronze-caster (Active from 1853 to 1918)
(attributed to)

Pair of « Rams » perfume Burners

France
Circa 1870

Fluorite, Gilded bronze

Height : 43 cm (16,9 in.) ; Diameter base : 16 cm (6,3 in.)

Provenance : Michahelles Collection, Hamburg

Beautiful pair of Louis XVI style perfume burners in fluorite with elegant chiseled and gilded bronze mount. The lid surmounted by a gilded bronze seed rests on a frieze of beaded posts surmounting an openwork gallery. The body, of ovoid shape, is circled by a ribonned laurel frieze and ends with foliage centered by a pine cone. Decorated with three mounts topped with ram’s heads and ending with foliage hooves, they rest on a concave shaped tripod base, centered with a flower bud, and with cut sides adorned with flowers.

Renowned for the quality of its chiseling and the choice of materials, the Millet firm had a large workshop with many workers, using its own bronze models and enjoyed collaborations with famous sculptors and bronze-casters such as Claude Marioton.       

View from a booth of Maison Millet, showing a “Rams” perfume burners similar to ours

Biography

The firm of Théodore Millet was founded in 1853. A very talented specialist in 18th Century reproductions, Millet produced furniture and artistic bronzes of the highest quality. He was one of the few cabinet-makers to obtain authorisation from the Château de Versailles to make in 1902 a replica of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s great jewel cabinet. As an artist of great merit and Specialising in « meubles et bronzes d’art, genre ancien et moderne », Millet obtained the highest rewards such as the Gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889 for his first participation, and the Grand Prize at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The photographic archives show, among the workshops views and the parisian shop, Millet’s stand at the Universal Exhibition in Saint-Louis (US) in 1904. The firm’s influence internationnally is then through its antenna in New-York « Duryea and Potter », 469 fifth avenue, New-Yok. The firm lasted until 1918.

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“The Flowering”

France
Circa 1880

Porcelain

Height : 27,5 cm (10,8 in.) ; Width : 23 cm (9 in.) ; Depth : 17 cm (6,7 in.)

Beautiful pair of white porcelain vases richly decorated with beautiful polychrome floral compositions and butterflies enhanced with gold on a blue background, framed by golden porcelain handles in the shape of a lion’s head enclosing a ring in the mouth.
These vases are rimmed with gold at the necks and feet.

Paris Porcelain

Since the discovery of kaolin, needed material for the making of porcelain, porcelain factories also called porcelain manufactures are on the increase in all France and naturally in Paris. Most of those manufactures worked in the 18th century under the protection of a member of the Royal family, such the comte de Provence, future Louis XVIII, who protected the Clignancourt manufacture. But during the 18th and 19th century, numerous pieces did bear no making mark. It was then almost impossible to attribute them to any particular Parisian factory, hence the expression “Paris porcelain” or “Vieux Paris” including all those various productions.

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Bronze-Caster
(Active from 1853 to 1918)
(attributed to)

Elegant Lantern 

France
Circa 1880

Crystal, Bronze 

Height: 110 cm (43,3 in.); Diameter:  30 cm (11,8 in.)

Beautiful lantern in double patina bronze and crystal. The central shaft is engraved with a Greek frieze centered on a star. The whole is suspended from an openwork crown decorated with stylized leaves, from which three uprights end in a ceiling light.

Biography

The firm of Théodore Millet was founded in 1853. A very talented specialist in 18th Century reproductions, Millet produced furniture and artistic bronzes of the highest quality. He was one of the few cabinet-makers to obtain authorisation from the Château de Versailles to make in 1902 a replica of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s great jewel cabinet. As an artist of great merit and Specialising in « meubles et bronzes d’art, genre ancien et moderne », Millet obtained the highest rewards such as the Gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889 for his first participation, and the Grand Prize at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The photographic archives show, among the workshops views and the parisian shop, Millet’s stand at the Universal Exhibition in Saint-Louis (US) in 1904. The firm’s influence internationnally is then through its antenna in New-York « Duryea and Potter », 469 fifth avenue, New-Yok. The firm lasted until 1918.

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France

Circa 1865

Oil on Canvas, Sculpted and Gilded Wood

Height : 180 cm (70,9 in.) ; Width : 63,5 cm (25 in.) ; Depth : 12 cm (4,7 in.)

Rare set of four paintings of allegories of Arts depicted by figures with putti: 

The Music, The Sculpture, The Painting and The Theater. 

The lowers parts are adorned by four bouquets of blooming flowers.

The whole is beautifully framed with delicately carved and gilded wooden shells, scrolls and palms.

Provenance

Collection of Baron Maurice Lemonnier

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Crystal Manufacture

Exceptional Chandelier and its ten Wall-lights

France
Circa 1860

Chandelier- Height : 255 cm (100,4 in.) ; Diam. : 170 cm (66,9 in.)
Wall-lights –  Height : 102 cm (40,1 in.) ; Width : 58 cm (22,8 in.) ; Depth : 64 cm (25,1 in.) 

Provenance : Private Palace, Italy

Exceptional chandelier with 90 lights accompanied with ten sconces. The central shaft is formed by a succession of balusters, cups and spheres in cut and faceted crystal from which emerge two rows of ten and twenty sconces formed by bouquets of two and three lights surmounted by a dagger, and fourteen egrets ending in bells.

Below, fifty-four beveled-sided knives form a star, from which descends a faceted sphere. The chandelier is richly adorned with pendants, drops, octagons and bells.

It comes with ten matching wall-lights with nine lights each, with a baluster-shaped central shaft, embellished with a crown from which emerge two rows of lights and a cup with six egrets ending in bells, surmounted by a faceted sphere and a dagger. The whole is adorned with numerous pendants, drops and octagons.

Dessin préparatoire pour un lustre à 140 verrines, 1858. Baccarat, archives of the manufacture, reproduced page 25 of the exhibition catalogue « Baccarat, la légende du cristal » exposed at the Petit Palais from October 15th 2014 to January 4th 2015.

This preparatory drawing probably served as a model for the chandelier presented here. Indeed, Baccarat offered several variants of the same model to its customers who could thus adapt their order by choosing the number of lights, the height of the chandelier or the shape of the shaft according to their taste and their interiors.

Between 1764 and 1860, with rare exceptions, the Cristallerie de Baccarat never signed his work. The first paper labels appear in 1860 and represent inside a circle a carafe surrounded by a stemmed glass and a goblet above which is marked Baccarat.

From 1875, the Mark « Baccarat » in stick letters and in relief is present on certain blown models and on the bronze parts of the frames.

It is from 1936 that the carafe surrounded by a stemmed glass and a goblet, with « Baccarat » marked above, systematically appeared on the entire production.

Since 1990, a laser signature complete the engraved mark.

Biography

The famous crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18th century, was awarded its first medal in 1823, during the “Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie” for the “brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal” and became then the most renowned French “cristallerie”. Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions, and especially between 1855 and 1867.  In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ». To keep its wealthy clientele, among which the Royal family, Baccarat must discover new styles and decors as well as new material.

The post Baccarat <br/> Exceptional Chandelier and its ten Wall-Lights appeared first on Tobogan Antiques.

Cabinet-maker (1799-1871)
(attributed to)

Display Pedestal

France
Circa 1865

Height : 135 cm (53,1 in.) ; Width : 45 cm (17,7 in.) ; Depth : 48 cm (18,9 in.)

Rare Napoleon III display pedestal with curved front, in rosewood and kingwood veneer and chiseled and gilded bronze ornamentation. Topped by a rotating circular top underlined by a frieze of laurels, it is decorated on three sides with floral marquetry and interlacing in cartouches delimited by boxwood nets, and underlined with gilded bronze rods. The front is decorated with a bouquet of flowers inlaid in a large oval ribboned medallion surmounted by a garland of flowers and highlighted with laurels. The base, in frisage marquetry, is surrounded by an egg-and-dart frieze and a frieze of foliage in gilded bronze.

Biography

Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois was born in Paris in 1799 and died in 1871. Founding his house in 1835, he became one of the most important furniture sculptors-manufacturers of the Second Empire, official supplier of the Empress Eugénie and had among his clientele princess Mathilde, the bankers Pereire and Ottinguer, La Païva and the Rothschilds.
Until 1848, he worked with the sculptor Fossey, and participated together in the Exhibition of French Industrials Products in 1844 where they won a silver medal. At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855, he shared with F. Barbedienne the medal of honor. The London Universal Exhibition in 1862 gave him two medals de grande excellence de composition et d’exécution and the rank of officer of the Légion d’Honneur. In 1867, he left his business to his son Henri-Auguste who worked with him since 1860.

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Designer
(1825-1854)

F. Barbedienne

Bronze-caster
(1810-1892)

(attributed to)                                                                              

‘Bamboo’ stands

A similar model presented at the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition

Bronze with brown shade patina, red griotte marble

France, circa 1855

Total height : 154 cm (60 ^5/8 in.) ; Width : 33 x 33 cm (13 x 13 in.)
Cup : height 17 cm (6 ¾ in.)

Beautiful pair of bronze stands also named Bamboo candelabra. Each rests on three claw feet adorned with lion heads and separated with palms. A bamboo shaped shaft arises from this tripod and is topped with three buds supporting a circular red griotte marble top on which stands a cup in the Ancient style decorated with ivy.

The sobriety of the decoration enhances the quality of the bronze cast and the patina shades. The small chains falling from the top animates this work of a sleek design.

The model

The design of these stands, inspired from Ancient tripods, is a well-known model in Ferdinand Barbedienne’s production as it was reused many times by the bronze-caster. Designed by the head-decorator Henri Cahieux, this model was edited by the Barbedienne Company as soon as 1855, named Ancient candelabra lamp-holder h. 1m35 and was sold 440 francs. From 1875, these stands were commercialised under the name Bamboo candelabra, tripod, lamp-holder and were offered in three heights : 1m90, 1m70 and 1m35. This model of stand could then be found in all catalogues of the Barbedienne Company.

This pair of candelabras allows us to see how F. Barbedienne offered during decades a range of furniture from the designs of his decorator. This type of stand could be seen in different interior decorations of the Second Empire

A model similar to ours was presented by the Barbedienne Company at the 1855 Universal Exhibition. For this occasion Empress Eugénie bought it for her toilet at Saint-Cloud Castle. A watercolor by Fortuné de Fournier made in 1860 shows them, set on both sides of a cheval mirror made by the Fourdinois Company.

This model pleased the Empress so much that she ordered two other pairs in 1858 for her boudoirs at Compiègne and Fontainebleau Palaces.

Candelabra, Universal Exhibition of 1855

Watercolour showing the Empress’ toilet at Saint-Cloud Castle, Compiegne Palace

Otherwise similar stands took place in the Pompeiian house built in 1856 by the architect Alfred Normand (1822-1909) for Prince Napoléon. Several pictures and engravings of this house show us these candelabras used as lamp-holders. If the Ancient style furniture was designed by Charles Rossigneux (1818-1908), the presence of these stands illustrates that the Barbedienne Company took also part to this work particularly with this model which was successful among the imperial family.

Engraving showing the party given by Prince Napoléon for the inauguration of his Pompeiian house, 14th February 1860, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

View of the atrium of the Pompeiian house about 1860, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Biographies

Henri Cahieux (1825-1854) : head decorator for the artistic bronze-caster Ferdinand Barbedienne, he was destined for a brilliant career, as testified the works of art he sent to the Salons of 1850 and 1853. Most of these pieces were made in the Greek style, which was very fashionable at the time. Victor Champier’s article “Industrial Artists”, which appeared in the Decorative Arts Review (December 1888) echoed the genius of the artist : “Barbedienne had just lost (in 1854), taken by cholera in the prime of life, this young man with such a promising future, whose works, infused with graceful taste, showed him to be a master”. At the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris, his lamps which figured as the last testimony of Henri Cahieux, won a medal of honour for Barbedienne’s stand. His succession in the firm was assured by Louis-Constant Sevin (1821-1888) with great success.

Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) : he created and headed at n°30 boulevard Poissonnière in Paris one of the most famous 19^th century artistic bronze casting companies. He owed his reputation to his bronze casting of Ancient and modern sculptures, which subjects came from the greatest European museums, but also to his original bronze works designed in his workshop and reserved for furniture and decoration. In addition to his own production, Barbedienne worked for renowned sculptors such as Barrias, Bosio, Clésinger or Carrier-Belleuse. Awarded with two Council Medals at the 1851 London Universal Exhibition, the Barbedienne Company won at the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition a medal of honour and eleven cooperator’s medals for the work of his co-workers, designers and chasers. The success of the Barbedienne Company at the diverse international exhibitions earned it several official commissions, as providing ornamental bronze for the Pompeiian house of Prince Napoleon, about 1860, avenue Montaigne in Paris. At the 1867 Universal Exhibition in his capacity as member of and speaker for the Jury, he was non-contestant, but exhibited nevertheless with great success cloisonné and champlevé enamelled pieces. Barbedienne was made an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur in 1867 and Commander in 1878 when he was compared with “a prince of industry and the king of bronze casting”. His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes.

Literature

– F. Barbedienne fondeur, Catalogue des bronzes d’art, Paris, 1855, p.14.
– F. Barbedienne fondeur, Bronzes d’art, Paris, 1858, p.47.
– F. Barbedienne, Bronzes d’art, Paris, 1862, p.56.
– F. Barbedienne fondeur, Catalogue des bronzes d’art, Paris, 1875, p.68.
– F. Barbedienne fondeur, Catalogue des bronzes d’art, Paris, 1882, p.91.
– F. Barbedienne éditeur, Leblanc-Barbedienne successeur, Bronzes d’art, Paris, 1893, p.99.
– Barbedienne éditeur, Leblanc-Barbedienne successeur, Bronzes et objets d’art, Paris, 1900, p.117.
– « La maison pompéienne du Prince Napoléon avenue Montaigne », Marie-Claude Dejean de la Batie, in La Gazette des Beaux-arts, t. LXXXVII, 1287^e livraison, avril 1976, pp. 127-134. fig. 9.

Museologie

– Pair of lamp-holders by F. Barbedienne, bought by Empress Eugénie in 1858 for Compiègne Palace, preserved at Compiègne Palace (Inv. C.348.C).

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Paintor (1825-1908)
French School

“ Le Moineau de Lesbie ”

Painting exposed at the Salon of 1861

Signed C. Brun and dated 1860
Oil on canvas

Dimensions with frame : Height : 116 cm (45.7 in.) ; Width : 144 cm (56.7 in.)
Dimensions without frame : Height : 85 cm (33.5 in.) ; Width : 118 cm (46.5 in.)

Atrium with a rich Pompeian decor in which a young woman lying on a bed is playing with a sparrow, not paying attention to the man sat at her feet.

This painting is a major work of art of C. G. Brun, well-know for the precision of his technic, by the elegance of its composition, the pureness of the colors, the refinement of the touch and the expressivity of the characters.

This rare intimist scene in an interior decorated in the Pompeian style perfectly illustrates the taste of the time for the discovery of the villas of Pompei, thanks to the archeological excavations of the 18th century and the books published about them. To arrange its interiors based on the models of the Pompeian villas is then a trend that the most important people of that time will follow, as the Prince Napoléon, cousin of the Emperor Napoléon III, who orders the construction of a splendid Pompeian villa on the Avenue Montaigne, of which nothing remains but a few pictures and a painting by Gustave Boulanger, dated 1861 and called  Répétition du « Joueur de flûte » et de la « Femme de Diomède » chez le Prince Napoléon.

This painting illustrates the poem « Fletus passeris Lesbiae » from the collection « Carmina » written by Catulle (87-54 av. J.-C.) : in his work, the author, in love with Lesbie, a married woman living in Rome, puts on a show a sparrow as the main center of interest of its mistress who neglects her suitor.

This theme, Le Moineau de Lesbie, has been represented many times in painting, like the version by Raphaël Poggi exposed at the Salon of 1865, or Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1866 or Edward Poynter in 1907.

Painting exposed, as reference number 467 – Le Moineau de Lesbie, at the Salon of 1861 on the picture rail of the Palais des Champs-Elysées (Hall des sculptures et cimaises du salon de 1861/ Photographies par Richebourg, vue 17, BNF)

Biography

Charles Guillaume Brun, born in Montpellier in 1825 and died in Paris in 1908, was registered in 1847 at the Paris Beaux-Arts school, where he studied under the direction of François- Edouard Picot (1786-1868) and of Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). His participation in the Paris Salon began in 1851 with genre subjects (Young girl doing her morning prayer), but as soon as 1853, he regularly sent Orientalist scenes, located in Algeria (Prayer in 1859, Rendez-vous in Constantine in 1861, Moorish woman in 1867), strongly architecturally designed, animated with sharp contrasts in lighting effects and showing a fine sensitivity while modulating his grays. In addition to numerous landscapes of Algeria, he was also known as military portraitist, painting accurately uniforms, and he naturally became official painter to the Ministry of War, where he worked with Alexandre Cabanel. He was also the author of decoration of churches, including that of Villemomble (Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 1857). Brun became a member of the French Artists society from 1883.

Bibliography

– 1820-1920 – Les Petits Maitres De La Peinture, G. Schurr, Les Editions de l’amateur, Paris, 1975, t.V, p.32.

– Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Bénézit, éd. Gründ, 1976, vol. II, p.887.

– Hall des sculptures et cimaises du salon de 1861/Photographies par Richebourg, Pierre-Ambroise Richebourg, 1861, vue 17

– Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, gravure, lithographie et architecture des artistes vivants exposés au palais des Champs-Elysées le 1^er mai 1861, Charles de Mourgues Frères, Imprimeurs des musées impériaux, 1861

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Sculptor
(1827-1905)

F. Barbedienne

Fondeur
(1810-1892)

« Florentine Singer »

Signed P. Dubois 1865 and F. Barbedienne fondeur
Stamped with réduction mécanique Collas

France
Circa 1880

Height : 93 cm (36,6 in.) ; Width : 39 cm (15,4 in.) ; Depth : 27 cm (10,6 in.)

A patinated bronze « Florentine Singer » sculpture, inspired by the Italian journey of Dubois and the historicist taste. The plaster model was exhibited at the Parisian Salon in 1865, and won the Honor Medal.

The first bronze cast was purchased by Princess Mathilde. It was then added to the famous bronze-caster Barbedienne’s catalogue and edited from 1865 to 1953 in six heights – 39cm to 115cm- thanks to the Collas mechanical reduction system.

Biographies

Paul Dubois (1827-1905) entered the Paris Beaux-Arts School in 1858. He exhibited at the 1865 Salon the Chanteur Florentin, illustrating Florentine sculpture, observed after his journey in Italy. This work, cast that time in silvered bronze, was exhibited at the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition (now preserved at the Orsay museum). Dubois’ success brought him many commissions, both private (Portrait of Duc d’Aumale) and public (Jeanne d’Arc, in Reims). Appointed curator at the Luxembourg museum in 1873, Dubois became also a member of the Institute and finally headmaster at the Beaux-Arts School in 1878.

Born in 1810, Ferdinand Barbedienne started at n°30 boulevard Poissonnière in Paris one of the most famous 19th century artistic bronze casting companies. He died in 1892. In addition to his personal production, he worked for famous old times artists or contemporary sculptors such as Auguste Clésinger, Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and Louis Barrias. The success of Barbedienne’s firm brought him many official commissions, such in about 1860, as Barbedienne supplied bronzes for furniture for the Pompeian Villa of Prince Napoleon, located avenue Montaigne in Paris. Barbedienne’s production was always highly esteemed and he was, himself admired by contemporary art critics who compared him during the 1878 Universal Exhibition to a « prince of industry and the king of bronze-casting ». His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes.

Bibliography

P. Kjellberg, Les bronzes du XIX^e siècle. Dictionnaire des sculpteurs, éd. Amateur, Paris, 1989.

F. Rionnet, Les bronzes Barbedienne. L’œuvre d’une dynastie de fondeurs, Paris, Arthena, 2016.

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San Ildefonso, Spain
(attributed to)

Outstanding crystal chandelier

Spain
Circa 1900

Crystal

Height : 120 cm (47,2 in.) ; Diam : 125 cm (49,2 in.)

A magnificent cut crystal three-stage chandelier underlined by crown of prisms, pearls and mirza. The lower part holds ten light arms finishing by green crystal cups with gold foliate patterns. The chandelier is supported by a central baluster in cut crystal enriched with large green crystal cups highlighted by intern lights.

A similar chandelier is exhibited at the Liria Palace in Madrid, the Duke of Alba’s residence.

Commentary

La Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja was established in 1727 in San Ildefonso under order of the Bourbon king Felipe V of Spain, in order to furbish the royal palace of the Granja in glaces and mirrors. French glass masters came at the royal manufacture in 1746, and then masters from Germany and Bohemia (1750). Like the Buen Retiro royal manufacture of porcelain, the Santa Barbara tapestry manufacture, the Granja royal manufacture of crystal took part in the diffusion of Spanish decorative arts in Europe during the 18th century. The manufacture was closed in 1808, consequently to the Spanish independence war, before being restored in 1815 under the reign of Fernando VII. The production was active during the whole 19th century, managed by private owners, and exported in Europe and in America. To pay tribute to this tradition and know-how, a museum and a dedicated center was founded in 1982. 

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Crystal Manufacture

An Exceptional Crystal Chandelier

France
Circa 1870

Height : 140 cm (55,11 in.) ; Diameter : 105 cm (41 1/3 in.)

A very important thirty-five lights Baccarat cut-crystal and gilded bronze chandelier. The centered stem is made up of baluster-and-bowl-shaped cut-crystal pieces, all of very high-standard quality. Adorned with an elegant gilt bronze mount forming the light-arms, alternating bouquets of six and one, all decorated with climbing ivy. Below, thirty-eight beveled-sided knives form a star, from which descends a bell. Richly adorned with finely cut crystal pendants, prisms, myrzas and diamonds.

Biography

The crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18^th century, was awarded its first medal at the 1823 « Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie » for the « brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal » and became then the most renowned French « cristallerie ». Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture, that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions. In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ».

This remarkable crystal chandelier is to be linked to another masterpiece executed by the Baccarat manufacture (Private collection).

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France
Circa 1880

Height : 77 cm (30,3 in.) ; Length : 153 cm (60,2 in.) ; Depth : 84 cm (33 in.)

This important Mazarin desk veneered with a “Boulle” marquetry made of red tortoiseshell, copper and tin opens at the front with seven drawers and one door. It stands on two sets of drawers laying on four feet gathered by a stretcher and adorned with lion feet. The top is richly decorated with arabesques inspired by the drawings of Jean Ier Berain (ornemanist, « dessinateur de la chambre et du cabinet du roi », 1640-1711) and presents mythological characters under a canopy at the centre. They are surrounded with monkeys and highlighted by a dazzling red ground made of tortoiseshell. The front and the sides show arabesques adorned with birds and small masks as well as characters playing games.

related work

Mazarin desk, Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731), circa 1700-1720, tortoiseshell, brass, gilded bronze. Petit Palais (inventory number ODUT1500)

The “Mazarin” shape appeared at the end of the 17th century, firstly adorned with a wooden floral marquetry (Pierre Gole, c.1620-1685), then with a marquetry made of tortoiseshell, copper and sometimes tin (André Charles Boulle, 1642-1732), as our piece of furniture witnesses. Their numerous drawers and the withdrawn central part allowed for a comfortable use of this kind of desks. However, they were also considered as ceremonial pieces of furniture since the marquetry decorates all sides of the desk with an important part given to the arabesques. During the 19th century, “Boulle” marquetry was very much appreciated by collectors and was reused by cabinet-makers such as Befort Jeune (1813-1880), Joseph Cremer (1811-1878) or Monbro Aîné (1807-1884).

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Cabinet-maker & Bronze-caster
(1825-1896)

Important «Enfant Guerrier» Mantel Clock

Signed and dated Henry Dasson 1877

France
1877

Height: 63 cm (24,8 in.); Width: 64 cm (25 in.); Depth: 29 cm (11,4 in.)

Rare gilt and patinated bronze and marquetry on ebony mantel clock representing an “enfant guerrier”. The upper part is composed of a putto, leaning on the face of the clock, wearing a helmet and holding a gladiator sword. The lower part is constituted of a lovely ebony base embellished by a copper and brown tortoiseshell marquetry in the “Boulle” style and ornamented with a gilt bronze satire head in the middle. Rests on four chiseled and gilded bronze lion feet decorated by a foliage decor.

Another gilded bronze, marble and wood mantel clock, signed Henry Dasson for the clock and Bouchardon 1731 on the marble sculpture.

Biographies

As a cabinet-maker and a bronze-caster, Henry Dasson executed in his Paris workshop sumptuous copies of royal 18^th century models and some pieces of his own modified 18^th century design. He used for his pieces of furniture and « objets d’art » the very finest ormolu mounts with high quality mercurial gilding. He purchased the firm of the cabinet-maker Charles Winckelsen upon his death in 1871 and mainly produced in the Louis XV and Louis XVI style. His participation at the Paris 1878 Universal Exhibition was highly remarked with a Louis XVI style table, all in bronze and considered as a « chasing masterpiece », and a copy of the famous King Louis XV desk (original piece exhibited at the Versailles Castle). At the 1889 Universal Exhibition, he won a « Grand Prix » for his beautiful furniture.

Starting his apprenticeship with his sculptor-architect father, Edmé Bouchardon later enters Guillaume Coustou’s workshop. Thank to the First Sculpture Award received in 1722, Edmé Bouchardon leaves for Rome in 1723. The reputation acquired thanks to his works in Rome precedes his arrival in Paris, where he is integrated to the Royal Academy upon his return in 1733, conferring him the title of Sculptor of the King. Among his prestigious works can be mentioned the statues of the Saint-Sulpice church ‘s choir in Paris, the fountain, Rue de Grenelle executed between 1739 and 1745, then between 1740 and 1750, L’amour se taillant un arc dans la massue d’Hercule currently displayed at the Louvre Museum.

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France
Late 19th century

A very fine eight pieces set composed of four armchairs and two matching chairs with their stretcher, and a further pair of chairs, all made in walnut finely carved in the Regence style. Ornated with foliate shells, small flower garlands and beautiful acanthuses on the serpentine armrests of the seats. The legs also carved with scalloped leaves terminate in scrolls and hoof feet.

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Italy – Venice
2nd half of the 19th century

Height : 87 cm (34,2 in.) ; Width : 84 x 70 cm (33 x 27,5 in.)

This gilded wood center table is inspired by decorative and architectural motifs of the Trecento, the Italian pre-Renaissance of the fourteenth century. With a beautiful and molded quatrefoil top adorned in centering gold edged cartridges, with hand-painted under glass decoration motifs in imitation of half-precious stones such as agate, lapis lazuli or malachite on a porphyry imitated background. Around the frieze, the architectural-shaped foot and base, further elegant cartridges inspired by the Renaissance style scalloped edged “cuirs découpés”, are decorated with glass painted cabochons imitating other stones.

This Venetian table made in the second half of the nineteenth century, is reminiscent of the Italian Trecento and Venice itself, where a strong Gothic tradition tinged with local originalities then produced masterpieces. All the criteria are met here : gold, light through glass and half-precious stones.

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Painter
(1684-1721)
(In the taste of)

“Fêtes Galantes”
“Courtly Love” and “Inconstant Love”

French School
Late 19th Century

Oil on canvas
Measurements with frames : Height : 135 cm (53 in.) ; Width : 94 cm (37 in.) ; Depth : 6 cm (2,4 in.)

Magnificent pair of important paintings on the theme of “Fêtes galantes” and so dedicated to the art of seduction. One represents “Courtly Love”, where elegant couples walk in a park, talking and declaiming their sincere love. The other painting depicts young women and actors wooing less wisely near a gushing fountain, a lively and representative subject of “Inconstant Love”.

These works are reminiscent of the painter Antoine Watteau’s ones (1684-1721), the inventor of the “Fêtes galantes” theme, where the artist gave via these juxtaposed skits considerable importance to the attitudes and positions of bodies, expressing thus feelings in an outdoor setting.

The theme of “Fêtes galantes” quick to spur love trouble, treated with delicacy, were continued throughout the eighteenth century, thanks to the followers of Watteau, such as Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695-1736), Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), François Boucher (1703-1770) and Jean- Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806 ).

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Numbered on its backside 359/576

France
Circa 1880

Terracotta

Height : 115 cm (45,3 in.) ; Width of the base : 37 x 30 cm (14,5 x 11,8 in.)

Large sculpture made in patinated terracotta, with a servant girl filling her jug at the fountain, which is decorated in the lower part of a lion’s head (from which flows water), topped with a grooved and truncated column, on which is wound a five light-flowers plant.

The terracotta pieces almost always bear a model number, and occasionally the edition number or how many pieces were edited, indicating then the importance of production, in this case made in a limited edition.
Originally, the signature of the sculptor never appeared in editions of terracotta. This claim of artists to see their name beside the publisher’s one didn’t appear until the late nineteenth century.

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Bronze-caster
(1805-1886)
(attributed to)

Pair of “Putti” torcheres

France
Circa 1870

Gilded and patinated bronze

Total Height : 262 cm (103 in.)
Torcheres – Height : 180 cm (70,8 in.) ; Width : 75 cm (29,5 in.)
Base – Height : 82 cm (32,3 in.) ; Diameter : 52 cm (20,5 in.)

A pair of two patina bronze torcheres. Each modeled as a pair of putti holding aloft a large foliate shaft issuing eleven berried-acanthus scrolled branches terminating in conforming drip-pans and nozzles, on a circular parcel-gilt and ebonized plinth with fluted shaft.

Torcheres inspired by an 18th century model made by Jean-Louis Prieur (born around 1725), now part of the Wallace collection (inventory numbers F138 and F139).
Reproduced and commented in H. Ottomeyer, Vergoldete Bronzen, T. I, Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich, 1986, p. 95.

Another comparable group of cherubs holding a foliate torchere made in about 1870 by Victor Paillard.

Biography

Victor Paillard (1805-1886) was one of the most distinguished bronze casters in Paris during the second half of the 19^th Century. He was taught chasing by Jean-François Denière (1774-1866), then opened in the 1830’s his own workshop making “Art bronzes and Furnishing bronzes”, settled n°105, boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris. He executed first small objects, then cast statuettes, candelabra, clocks as well as impressive sized torcheres. He appeared to the public for the first time at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1839 and worked for the greatest French sculptors, such as Pradier, Barye and Carrier-Belleuse. He exhibited extensively with great success being mentioned for the quality of his work at the famous 1851 and 1862 London Universal Exhibitions, and the 1855, 1867 and 1878 Universal Exhibitions then held in Paris. Paillard was there celebrated by everyone ; John Burney Waring ilustrates a gilt-bronze mirror by him in his “Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture, 1862 (Plate 92)”, which is a comprehensive record of the finest pieces on show in the London Exhibition. At that time, he was awarded a prize medal and the exceptional quality of his work was commented in all jury reports. Appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by the French Government, Paillard employed since the 1850’s a hundred workers and proposed to his wealthy clients about four hundreds models, cast in bronze not only after famous sculptors’ works, but also after his own creations. It is especially interesting that his “Cherub” figures, such as those ones presented here were particularly singled out for their charm and popularity by commentators at both the 1862 and 1867 Universal Exhibitions. Burney Waring noted that they portrayed the “happy and innocent moods of childhood”.

Museology

Many of Paillard’s bronze pieces are now displayed in private collections as well as in renowned fine arts museums, such in the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York, exhibiting Sappho (1851). In Paris, the “Quai d’Orsay” (French Foreign Office) still presents since the 1855’s some great pieces by Paillard (clocks, candelabra and torcheres) in the Main Hall, the Congress Hall and the Salon of the Ambassadors. As for its Clock Room, Paillard made the clock which gave its name to the Room.

Bibliography

Les bronzes du XIXe siècle, P. Kjellberg, Les Ed. de l’amateur, 1989, p° 662.

Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture, John Burney Waring, 1862, Plate 92.

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Cabinet- & fine boxes maker
(1813-1892)

Remarkable travel casket

Signed Tahan, Fr du Roi, à Paris

France
Circa 1860

Height : 25,5 cm (10 in.) ; Width : 66 cm (26 in.) ; Depth : 44 cm (17,3 in.)

Remarkable travel casket also known as « paper-holder » made in blackened wood, finely decorated with brass, red tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl marquetry and fine chiseled and gilded bronze ornaments. The top opening onto a satinwood veneered inside and three drawers, with a monogramed flap and a further large flap to the frontside.

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, then boulevard des Italiens, both fancy Parisian addresses under the Second Empire. 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.

Bibliography

Les ébénistes du XIXe siècle, D. Ledoux-Lebard, Ed. de l’amateur, 1984, p.593.

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France
Circa 1880

Height : 76 cm (30 in.) ; Width : 51 cm (20 in.) ; Depth : 32 cm (12,6 in.)

Beautiful Louis XVI style writing table made in mahogany. The rectangular top, surrounded on three sides by a fine pierced and gilt-bronze frieze, above a drawer whose front forms a flap opening by a clever mechanism, revealing an elegant brown leathered writing surface. The table stands on two mahogany legs with an openwork interlacing decoration, joined by a stretcher adorned with a centering pierced and gilt-bronze basket.

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Cabinet-maker and bronze caster
(1847-1919)

Rare set of urns and pedestals

Signed BY on the back of the bronze mounts

France
Circa 1890

Urns – Height : 76 cm (30 in.) ; Width : 62 cm (24,4 in.)
Pedestals – Height : 115 cm (45,3 in.) ; Base : 53 x 53 cm (20,8 x 20,8 in.)

Exceptional pair of gilded bronze and gadrooned very rare « African Brèche » marble covered vases. Beautifully decorated with acanthus leaves, scrolls and lion masks motifs. Magnificent pedestals decorated on three sides with exceptional « Sicily Jasper » plaques framed with water leaves motifs. Gilt-bronze mounts figuring lion masks, scrolls, garlands, acanthus leaves and laurel crowns. Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley took inspiration for his vases from the famous model, made in antique porphyry, mounted with gilt bronzes in the eighteenth century and now part of the collections of the Louvre Museum.

Considering the quality of the bronze chiseling, of the mercury gilding as well as the rarety of the marbles such the « African Brèche » and « Sicily Jasper », these presented pieces can be considered as one of the most prestigious works produced by A.-E. Beurdeley. A similar pair of vases, made in gilded bronze mounted porphyry, was made by Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley for the Great Hall of The Breakers, Newport (USA), the luxurious estate of Cornelius II Vanderbilt.

Biography

In 1875, Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley (1847-1919) was at first assistant to and later succeeded his father Louis-Auguste Beurdeley, one of the main cabinet-makers of the Second Empire, specialising in XVIIIth century furniture. Louis-Auguste was the star whenever he exhibited and was “most favored by the royal and imperial families”. Although he produced the same kind of works of art as his father, Alfred Beurdeley was also a very well-known art collector and a skilled bronze sculptor. With Dasson, Grohé, Sauvresy and Fourdinois, the most famous artists of the period, he took part in the 1878 Universal Exhibition and won the gold medal. Crowned with glory he went so far as to open a shop in New York. His participation in the 1883 Amsterdam Universal Exhibition drew considerable attention to his work and “Alfred Beurdeley, Fabricant de bronzes d’art” was then awarded the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s hightest official mark of recognition. He thus won the respect of both the government and contemporary art critics. His last presentation was during the 1889 Universal and International Exhibition, when the director of the Exhibition wrote in his report : “The talent of Mr Beurdeley is self evident when one inspects his furniture.”

Bibliography

L’univers des bronzes, Yves Devaux, Ed. Pygmalion, Paris, 1978, p°261.

« La saga Beurdeley (1814-1919) », Bernard Dorival, B.S.H.A.F., 1989, p°191.

L’ameublement d’art français, 1850-1900, Camille Mestdagh, Les Ed. de l’Amateur, Paris, 2010, p°130.

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Sculptor-ornemanist
(1821-1888)

F. Barbedienne

Bronze-caster
(1810-1892)

Exceptional pair of jardinieres

Signed F. Barbedienne

France

Height : 61 cm (24 in.) ; Width : 75 cm (29,5 in.) ; Depth : 35 cm (13,7 in.)

Model presented at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition
(Reproduced and commented in Victor Champier’s book « Les Industries d’Art, Exposition Universelle de 1889 »)

A pair of exceptional jardinieres made in a very beautiful red « Griotte » marble. Each of « crater » shape, the centerpiece is sumptuously adorned with Renaissance style gilded bronze mounts cast after a design by Louis-Constant Sévin, such the mask of Medusa beneath a shell and flanked by swirling foliate acanthus with gadrooned rim. The handles cast with seated thinking putti on lion head-cast handles.

Biography

Born in 1821 and dead in Paris in 1888, Louis-Constant Sévin was apprenticed to the parisian sculptor Marneuf. In 1839, he joined the sculptor-modelors Phénix and Joyau, as designer, and designed silver-smith’s objects for famous firms like Denière, Froment-Meurice, Morel and Duponchel. During the Revolution in 1848, C. Sévin joined Morel in London, as workshop manager and designed pieces that Morel exhibited in 1851. Back in France in 1851, C. Sévin went to Limoges and designed models for the porcelain factories of Jouhanneaud and Dubois of which many pieces were exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in 1855. From this date on, he worked for Ferdinand Barbedienne as sculptor-ornemanist until the end of his life. Sévin’s works are considerable, he designed furniture bronzes for the « hôtel de La Païva ». At the London Exhibition in 1862, he was awarded a medal « pour l’excellence artistique des meubles qu’il a dessinés et qui sont exposés par Barbedienne » : for the artistic excellence of the furniture he designed and which is exhibited by F. Barbedienne. He won a second class medal at the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs Exhibition in 1863 and was awarded a gold medal as « cooperator ». F. Barbedienne said that posterity would remember Sévin’s compositions. The most extraordinary object designed by C. Sévin for F. Barbedienne, was a Renaissance style gilded bronze monumental clock, four metres high, for which C. Sévin won a gold medal as well as was awarded the Légion of Honor at the Universal Exhibition in 1878. His triumph was still valid at the 1889 Universal Exhibition.

Born in 1810, Ferdinand Barbedienne started one of the most famous 19th century artistic bronze casting companies. He died in 1892. In addition to his personal production, he worked for famous artists such as Clésinger, Carrière-Belleuse and Guillemin. Barbedienne’s production was always highly esteemed and he was, himself admired by contemporary art critics who compared him during the 1878 Universal Exhibition to a « prince of industry and the king of bronze-casting ». He was there awarded the « Grand Prix » as well as 28 cooperator medals. His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes.

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Crystal manufacture
(attributed to)

Pair of crystal vases

France
Circa 1920

Height : 35,5 cm (14 in.) ; Diameter : 13 cm (5 in.)

A beautiful pair of baluster shaped vases made in fine cut-crystal, allover decorated with star and diamond motifs. Mounted at the mouth with a large sterling silver ring.

Between 1764 and 1860, with rare exceptions, the crystal Manufacture of Baccarat doesn’t sign its works. The first paper labels appear in 1860 and represent inside a circle, a carafe surrounded by a goblet and a cup above which is marked BACCARAT.  From 1875, the brand BACCARAT in stick letters and in relief is present on  some blown models and on the bronze parts of the mounts. It’s from 1936 that the carafe, surrounded by a goblet and a cup with BACCARAT marked above, appears systematically on the production.

Biography

The famous crystal manufacture of Baccarat, that dates back to the 18th Century, was awarded its first medal in 1823, during the « Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie » for the « brilliance and the sharpness of its crystal » and became then the most renowned French cristallerie. Baccarat was undoubtedly the only French manufacture, that exhibited steadily and magnificently its products at the various Universal Exhibitions, and especially between 1855 and 1867. In all reports one can read about the « perfection of the material and of its cut ».

Bibliography

Dany Sautot, Baccarat, une histoire, éd. Baccarat, 1993.

L’Art en France sous le Second Empire, Exposition Grand-Palais, Paris, 1979, p. 238-239.

Exposition Universelle de 1867, Rapport adressé à la commission d’encouragement, classe 16 et 17, p.24- 25.

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Porcelain-maker
(19th Century)
(attributed to)

Pair of vases with covers

France
Circa 1890

Porcelain, Gilded bronze

Height : 45 cm (17,7 in.) ; Width : 21 cm (8,2 in.) ; Depth : 15 cm (6 in.)

Pair of Louis XVI style baluster shaped covered vases, made in porcelain with green background and gold dots, flanked by two applied handles made of white and gold double-coiled snakes. The bodies are finely painted with polychrome medallions, representing mythological scenes such as “Diana bathing caught naked by Actaeon” and “Meleager presenting the Calydon boar’s head to Atalanta”. Beautiful ormolu ornaments mounting the cover with a finial, the rim of the neck as well as the pedestal resting on a square base.

Biography

Edmé Samson (1810-1891), painter on ceramics established 1845 at n°7 rue in Paris, bought his white porcelain pieces, in other words undecorated porcelains from various Paris manufactures. His son, Emile (1837-1913) who succeeded him, began to make reproductions from older models. Exhibiting at the 1863 Exposition of the fine Arts applied to Industry, Emile Samson became particularly noted for his porcelain works imitating the « Old Japan » ones. He installed in 1864 a factory in Montreuil-sous-Bois, nearby Paris and enjoyed great success at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 with their imitations of Saxony, China and Japan porcelain pieces, all considered of very fine quality. At the 1889 Universal Exhibition, Samson & Cie was deemed to be specialized in large size pieces, made either in porcelain or earthenware, whose models were chosen from the most wellknown museums, such as the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1891, Emile went into partnership with his son Léon (1868-1928), under the name Samson & Son, who gave a major extension to the factory, employing a large number of workers and decorators. In addition to the manufacturing of porcelain, they also made their own bronze decorative mounts used on the pieces.

Bibliography

F. Slitine, Samson, génie de l’imitation, Massin, Paris, 2002.

Faënce et porcelaine de Paris, XVIIIe-XIXe siècles, Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Editions Faton, Paris, 1995, p° 406 & 407.

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Porcelain-maker
(19th Century)
(attributed to)

Impressive pair of vases with covers

Bearing the mark AR interlaced (Samson Manufacture)

France
Circa 1890

Height : 59 cm (23,2 in.) ; Diameter : 35 cm (13,7 in.)

A pair of large Chinese style white porcelain baluster shaped vases and covers. Each finely painted with polychrome 18th century style gallant scenes and flower garlands. The neck decorated with the famous gilded « caillouttis » created in the Sèvres Manufacture and the conforming domed cover with gilded finial.

Biography

Edmé Samson (1810-1891), painter on ceramics established 1845 at n°7 rue in Paris, bought his white porcelain pieces, in other words undecorated porcelains from various Paris manufactures. His son, Emile (1837-1913) who succeeded him, began to make reproductions from older models. Exhibiting at the 1863 Exposition of the fine Arts applied to Industry, Emile Samson became particularly noted for his porcelain works imitating the « Old Japan » ones. He installed in 1864 a factory in Montreuil-sous-Bois, nearby Paris and enjoyed great success at the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 with their imitations of Saxony, China and Japan porcelain pieces, all considered of very fine quality. At the 1889 Universal Exhibition, Samson & Cie was deemed to be specialized in large size pieces, made either in porcelain or earthenware, whose models were chosen from the most wellknown museums, such as the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1891, Emile went into partnership with his son Léon (1868-1928), under the name Samson & Son, who gave a major extension to the factory, employing a large number of workers and decorators. In addition to the manufacturing of porcelain, they also made their own bronze decorative mounts used on the pieces.

Bibliography

F. Slitine, Samson, génie de l’imitation, Massin, Paris, 2002.

Faënce et porcelaine de Paris, XVIIIe-XIXe siècles, Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Editions Faton, Paris, 1995, p° 406 & 407.

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Silversmiths
(19^th Century)

Jardiniere

Signed Cardeilhac, Paris

France
Circa 1860

Height : 10 cm (4 in.) ; Width : 38,5 cm (15 in.) ; Depth : 25,5 cm (10 in.)

A jardiniere consisting of an oval bowl in engraved crystal, decorated with a frieze of foliate waves and a rayed star in the bottom. It fits into a silver plated metal base ornamented with rococo motifs arranged asymmetrically, comprising branches, foliate scrolls and palmets on a mat background. It rests on four scroll feet.

biography

Antoine-Vital Cardeilhac founded his silver-smith’s firm in 1804. He specialized in silver cutlery and table ware. During the 19^th century the firm was handed down from father to son (Armand-Edouard followed by Ernest) and continued to produce with great success, pieces which were largely inspired by wrought iron originals with a rich and finely executed ornamentation. These models, of various forms and styles, were all judged remarkable for their chasing. Inevitably the firm of Cardeilhac was noticed for the high quality of the pieces shown to the public at national and international exhibitions and they received many awards such as a bronze medal in 1823 and a silver medal in 1827 and again in 1834 and yet again at the famous Parisian Universal Exhibition in 1867. They were finally consecrated with a gold medal at the 1878 Universal Exhibition which gave them an unprecedented renown. After more than a century of success confirmed at the great Universal Exhibitions, the famous silver-smith firm Christofle at last took over Cardeilhac in 1951.

museology

Numerous pieces are now exhibited in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris and also at the Christofle Museum.

bibliography

Rapport du Jury international, Exposition Universelle de 1878.

Rapport du Jury international, Exposition Universelle de 1889, Groupe III, Classe 23 (coutellerie) et 24 (orfèvrerie), p. 413

Catalogue sommaire illustré des Arts décoratifs, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, 1988, p. 229.

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Ornemanist
(1821-1888)

F. Barbedienne

Bronze-caster
(1810-1892)

A pair of Louis XVI style “porte-fleurs”

Signed F. Barbedienne

France
Circa 1880

Height : 18 cm (7 in.) ; Diameter : 21 cm (8,2 in.)

A lovely Louis XVI style pair of « porte fleurs », each consisting of a vase on his tray, made of pierced and gilded bronze, decorated with four medallions alternating putti and trophies of musical instruments, fruits and doves. A garland of fruits and foliage completes that decoration. The vases are lined with red and blue crystal goblets.

This vase is a creation by Constant Sévin, renowned for his “exquisite compositions”, made for the Barbedienne cast company. It demonstrates the Louis XVI style developed in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, enhanced by the enthusiasm of Empress Eugénie for Queen Marie-Antoinette. Our model is similar to a two handled vase reproduced in the Journal of Decorative Arts in 1888.

Biography

Louis-Constant Sévin (1821-1888) designed as soon as 1839 silver-smith’s objects for famous firms like Denière, Froment-Meurice, Morel and Duponchel. During the Revolution in 1848, he joined Morel in London, as workshop manager and designed pieces that Morel exhibited in 1851. Back in France, he worked in 1855 for Ferdinand Barbedienne as sculptor-ornemanist until the end of his life. Sévin’s works are considerable, he designed furniture bronzes for the « hôtel de La Païva ». At the London Exhibition in 1862, he was awarded a medal for the artistic excellence of the furniture he designed and which was exhibited by F. Barbedienne. He won a second class medal at the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs Exhibition in 1863 and was awarded a gold medal as « cooperator ». F. Barbedienne said that posterity would remember Sévin’s compositions. The most extraordinary object designed by C. Sévin for F. Barbedienne, was a Renaissance style gilded bronze monumental clock, four metres high, for which C. Sévin won a gold medal as well as was awarded the Légion of Honour at the Universal Exhibition in 1878. His triumph was still valid at the 1889 Universal Exhibition.

Born in 1810, Ferdinand Barbedienne started one of the most famous 19th century artistic bronze casting companies. He died in 1892. In addition to his personal production, he worked for famous artists such as Clésinger, Carrière-Belleuse and Guillemin. Barbedienne’s production was always highly esteemed and he was, himself admired by contemporary art critics who compared him during the 1878 Universal Exhibition to a « prince of industry and the king of bronze-casting ». He was there awarded the « Grand Prix » as well as 28 cooperator medals. His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes.

Bibliography

« Les artistes de l’industrie, Constant Sévin », dans la Revue des arts décoratifs, Victor Champier, décembre 1888, février 1889, p.163.

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Cabinet-maker and Bronze-caster
(1855-1946)
(attributed to)

Thermometer and perpetual calendar

France
Circa 1880

Height : 90 cm (35,4 in.) ; Width : 25 cm (9,8 in.)

A pair of Louis XVI style alcohol thermometer and matching barometer is to be linked to those made by François Linke, and registered under n°1830 in his personal archives.

Elegant set of Louis XVI style comprising a thermometer and a perpetual calendar. Each consisting of a metal plaque, painted with floral motifs on a beige background : for the calendar, four openings dislaying the year, the month, the day and its corresponding number in black on a parchment background, and for the alcohol thermometer, graduations indicating some states in Nature as « Ice » at 0° Celsius, or temperature suitable for « Silkworms » at 23° C. Molded carved and gilded wood frameworks enriched with volutes, acanthuses and oak leaves.

Biography

François Linke, born in 1855 in Bohemia (Czechoslovakia), worked as a cabinet-maker in Paris from about 1882 until his death in 1946. In 1900, at the apex of his career, he opened a new shop at the famous Parisian place Vendôme. He specialized in Louis XV and Louis XVI style furniture: all pieces were beautifully mounted with gilt-bronze ornaments, and he received numerous commissions. Later Linke decided to collaborate with the well-known sculptor Léon Messagé and integrated new lines and shapes announcing the “Art Nouveau” style. His great success is definitely the 1900 Universal Exhibition where he was awarded the gold medal for his extraordinary kingwood desk, designed by Messagé. At this occasion, the “Revue artistique et industrielle” commented that “Linke’s stand is the biggest show in the history of art furniture”.

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France
Circa 1860

Height : 225 cm (88,6 in.) ; Width : 135 cm (53 in.) ; Depth : 10 cm (4 in.)

An important carved and gilded wood mirror, with a very fine decoration made of flower garlands wrapped around the moulded frame, sculpted with acanthus leaves. A large foliate shell ornaments the top of the mirror.

Mirrors applied on walls develop during thr 16th century, but with small size mirror plates and heavy framing. Frequently an ornamented shutter folds down to protect the mirror plate. During the 17th century the monopoly for mirror production stays in Venice, until Colbert creates the “Manufacture Royale des Glaces” in 1666. In 1688, Lucas de Néhout invents the mirror casting system, allowing him to obtain large size mirrors. These mirrors, which could cover entirely a trumeau, become true display elements in the apartments. By reflecting the light coming from chandeliers and candelabras, they greatly enhanced the decoration of the room they were placed in.

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Italy
Circa 1880

Height : 200 cm (74,7 in.) ; Width : 120 cm (47,2 in.)

An important gilded wood- and stucco mirror. Heart shaped bevelled mirror plate. Rich marquetry ornamentation with mother-of-pearl inlaid. Acanthus leaves, shells and flower baskets motifs surmounted by two putti holding flower garlands.

Mirrors applied on walls develop during the 16th century, but with small size mirror plates and heavy framing. Frequently an ornamented shutter folds down to protect the mirror plate. During the 17h century the monopoly for mirror production stays in Venice, until Colbert creates the “Manufacture Royale des Glaces” in 1666. In 1688, Lucas de Néhout invents the mirror casting system, allowing him to obtain large size mirrors. These mirrors, which could cover entirely a trumeau, become true display elements in the apartments. By reflecting the light coming from chandeliers and candelabras, they greatly enhanced the decoration of the room they were placed in.

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Designer and Art Objects Editor
(19th century)
(attributed to)

Rare mural fountain

French Gilt-bronze (circa 1880) – Chinese porcelain (18th Century)

Height : 61 cm (24 in.) ; Width : 30 cm (11,8 in) ; Depth : 25 cm (9,8 in.)

Rare 18th Century Famille rose China porcelain mural fountain, decorated with lotus, tree and bird motifs. The faucet coming out of a dragon mouth. Beautiful gilt-bronze mounts with rocks, rushes and water motifs. Small gilt-bronze basin ornamented with pearls.

The Famille rose decors were developed by Chinese ceramists and then exported throughout Europe under the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (1723-1735). Those China pieces were much appreciated for their motifs, using vivid colors, but never overdecorated.

Biography

“L’Escalier de Cristal”, an old and famous Parisian firm, specialized in glass products and ceramics but also suggested furniture and bronze sculptures. It was led from 1885 to 1923 by Emile Pannier’s sons, who gave the name of Pannier Frères to the society, located at the corner of Scribe street and Auber street, next to the new built Paris Opera house. Their Japanese style creations were among many others much appreciated by the critics and the public. They were awarded many medals at various exhibitions, such as the Gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition. Lots of artists participated in that world success, such as Emile Gallé, who gave to Pannier Frères the exclusive rights of some of his models, or François-Eugène Rousseau, who designed many vases and gave the model of his successful Japanese style dining-set as well. This set was made by the Creil et Montereau Manufacture. In the Japanese style furniture branch, many famous makers such as Majorelle from Nancy, Edouard Lièvre or Gabriel Viardot worked for Pannier Frères. Some pieces are to be seen in the greatest museums : the Ermitage in Saint-Petersburg, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. The Maison “L’Escalier de Cristal” was sometimes the exclusive owner of the models and then those pieces were just signed by “L’Escalier de Cristal” or sometimes beside the artist signature. But “L’Escalier de Cristal” was also very creative, completing pieces with superb gilded bronzes, glass or enamelled panels and including often authentic Japanese or Chinese elements.

Bibliography

Catalogue de l’Exposition Universelle, les Beaux-Arts et les Arts décoratifs, t. I : l’Art moderne, Paris, 1878.

Catalogue de l’Exposition Universelle, les Beaux-Arts et les Arts décoratifs, Paris, 1889.

Les créations de l’Escalier de Cristal, Philippe Thiébaut, Revue de l’Art, 1989, n° 85.

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Painter
(Late 19th century)

“The three sisters”

Inscribed Cecilia Josuan, Colegio de N. S. del Huerto, Buenos Aires, 1896

Argentinian School

Height : 167 cm (65 3/4 in.) ; Width : 121 cm (47 2/3 in.)

A rare “fixé sous verre” painting using a combined technique of chromolithography for the faces and hands, and silk embroidery for the clothes and background drape. Representing three women holding each other’s hands.

Chromolithography technique uses thin paper motifs glued and varnished to integrate its support.

Commentary

Along from the rich Spanish legacy, Argentina is also very influenced since 19th century by European culture, notably Italian. Traces of American Indian culture are harder to find than in the other Latin America countries. During 19th century, with the National pride appears Argentina specific cultural themes. The Gaucho character, keeping the cattle in the Pampas, is recurrent in literature and particularly in poetry: Fausto (1866), by Estanilaslao del Campo, or Martin Fierro (1872), by José Hernandez, often considered to be an hymn to the Pampa. Painting also celebrates this genre with the works of painter Prilidiano Pueyrredon (1823-1870).

At the beginning of 19th century, painters in Latin America and particularly in Argentina are foreigners (French, Germans and British) named Costumbristas, painting folkloric landscapes and portraits much appreciated in Europe. During second part of 19th century, a national painting appears with internationally renowned painters such as Prilidiano Pueyrredon, Angel de La Valle or Eduardo Sivori. Sivori, student of Jean-Paul Laurens from 1882, is the first Argentina painter presented at the Paris Salon. Quite influenced at first by European styles and schools, these artists create, by the themes they choose to paint, a true Argentinean pictorial tradition.

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Painter
(1853-1892)

“The Saint-Cloud Fair”

Signed and dated F. Blayn, 1892

French School

Oil on canvas

Measurements with frame : Height : 117 cm (46 in.) ; Width : 138 cm (54 1/3 in.)

Painting exposed under n°127 at the 1892 Salon des Artistes français

Painting reproduced p. 157 of the “Catalogue Illustré des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture et gravure exposés au Champs-de-Mars le 7 mai 1892”

Genre scene presenting a mother in front of her trailer preparing her two girls to the circus of the Saint-Cloud Fair.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, during the holy Cloud pilgrimage, sumptuous feasts were given in the Saint-Cloud park. Each September, one of the oldest France funfairs gathered Parisians, merchants, showmen and actors.

Biography

Fernand Blayn (1853-1892) studied painting under Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). He specialized in portraits and genre paintings depicting everyday-life scenes. F. Blayn exhibited from 1878 at the Salon of French Artists. He obtained a third class medal at the 1886 Salon and a bronze medal at the Salon of 1889. Dedicated to the circus, the composition of this painting, painted the year of the death of the artist, of flawless execution, is distinguished by fine and delicate tones. The expression of faces as the care given to the quality and texture of fabrics reveal the brilliant art of the artist.

Museology

– Segré City Hall, Wedding Room : Le Repas du Soir (1889)

– Picardie Museum, Amiens : Le Retour des Pêcheurs

Bibliography

Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Bénézit, éd. Gründ, 1976, t.II, p.77

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Painter
(1798-1850)
(attributed to)

“Back from the fair”

French School

2nd quarter of the 19th century

Oil on canvas

Measurements with frame : Height : 40,5 cm (16 in.) ; Width : 49 cm (19 1/4 in.)

Biography

Born in 1798 in Mirecourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle Dept.), died in 1850 in Paris, Jean-Louis-Francois Demay was a painter specializing in genre scenes and landscapes. As a self-trained artist, Demay participated in the Paris Salon from 1827 until 1846. He then represented lively scenes depicting markets, fairs, festivals, and peasant life, at the time of the French Restoration (1815-1830).

Museology

The painted works made by Jean-François Demay are now either part of private collections, or exhibited in renowned museums, such as the Magnin Museum in Dijon, who own ‘The last Stop’ (oil on panel, Inv. 1938 F 266), or the Bordeaux Fine Arts Museum, who have ‘Landscape’ (oil on canvas, dated 1829, Inv. Bx E 714 ; Bx M 6553).

Bibliography

Les petits Maîtres de la peinture 1820-1920, Les Editions de l’Amateur, Paris, 1981, t.V.

Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, E. Bénézit, Editions Gründ, Paris, 1999, t. IV, p. 433.

J. Magnin, Un Cabinet d’un amateur parisien en 1922 – Peintures et dessins de l’école française, II, Paris, 1922 (n° 516).

Les Peintures françaises, catalogue sommaire illustré, Dijon musée Magnin, Paris 2000 (n° 143, p. 73 repr.).

Dictionnaire des peintres paysagistes français au XIXème siècle, Harambourg L., Neuchâtel, 1985, (p. 115; repr.).

Catalogue, Manciet C., Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture de Bordeaux, 1933, (p. 67, n° 238).

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France
Circa 1870

Height : 99 cm (39 in.) ; Width : 66 cm (26 in.) ; Depth : 67 cm (26,3 in.)

A very fine pair of Directoire style carved and tinted mahogany armchairs, with carved sphinges for the armrest supports. The circumference of the seatback and the seat belt are delicately carved with beads, rosettes and links. Reposing on tapered and fluted legs topped with carved rings.

Related work

Those armchairs are close in design to the chair model made in 1790 by the cabinet-maker Georges Jacob (1739-1814), and now displayed at the Paris Decorative Arts Museum (Inv. Mob Nat Gme 1552).

Biography

After having been received Master in 1765, Georges Jacob (1739-1814) worked from 1773 to the French Revolution for the Crown Furniture Repository. Its clientele was the most brilliant with Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, the royal family, especially the Count of Provence, future Louis XVIII, the Count of Artois, future Charles X, the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Penthièvre as well as foreign courts. In 1785 he created the first mahogany chairs, called « British chairs », for the Count of Provence. He launched the Etruscan style in 1788 by delivering « Etruscan » carved mahogany furniture for the dairy of the castle of Rambouillet. He also participated in the furnishings of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Georges Jacob spent the revolutionary period without being harassed thanks to the famous painter David. He retired in 1796, leaving his workshop to his sons Georges Jr. and François-Honoré, who created the company Jacob Brothers at Meslée Street, making Directoire and Consulate style furniture and seating. Because of their success, George interrupted retirement to help his sons to supply the imperial residences of Napoleon I. François-Honoré added the name of Desmalter, after the death of his father, in memory of the family estate in Burgundy.

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Sculptor-Designer
(1810-1870)

G. Grohé

Cabinet-maker
(1808-1885)

Exceptional console

Signed Grohé à Paris

France

Height : 103 cm (40 1/2 in.) ; Length : 150 cm (59 in.) ; Depth : 50 cm (19 2/3 in.)

Awarded a Gold Medal at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1844
(Reproduced in Musée des Familles, Lectures du Soir, t. XI, juillet 1844, p° 317)

Rare Napoleon III ebony console ornamented with gilt bronze mounts and underlined by a copper thread. Topped with red « griotte » marble. Frieze ornamented with acorn and foliage motifs, centred by a cartouche forming a heart. Legs ornamented with triton-putti and scrolling foliage. Center decorated with ribbons, female mask and naturalistic bouquets. Base ornamented with a twist with oves, acanthus leaves and flowered heads motifs. Mirror backplate. Resting on flat round feet.

Biography

Michel Liénard (1810-1870) worked as a designer and a sculptor. He regularly worked with Guillaume Grohé from 1839 until about 1855. Many of his sketches, now preserved at the French National Library as well as at the Paris Decorative arts Library, allow us to link this console to some other works executed by Liénard and Grohé (Second Album Liénard, dessin CD 4132-126, et Collection Maciet, vol. 344,6, Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris). Liénard worked also for the silversmith François-Désiré Froment-Meurice (1802-1855) and the famous organ maker Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899). As a talented designer and sculpteur, Liénard was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1851.

Guillaume Grohé (1808-1885) born in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt came to France about 1827 and settled in Paris. With his brother Jean-Michel, he led in Paris at 30 rue de Varennes the family business “Grohé Frères”, offering furniture and art objects and presented successfully works at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1834, which earned him an honorable mention. His success was as rapid as considerable. He won a silver medal in 1839 and a gold medal at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1844. He was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1849 and was later promoted to the rank of officer. In 1861, his brother retired from business, leaving Guillaume alone at the head of the company. With no successor, the company ceased its activity in 1884. Become in recent years one of the leading cabinetmakers of his time, Guillaume Grohé was naturally appointed Supplier of royal and imperial houses: for King Louis XVIII (Louis XIV Console, National Exhibition of 1844; Renaissance style ebony cabinet, 1844), for King Louis-Philippe (Rosewood Commode-secretary, 1839, now in the Louvre museum), for Emperor Napoleon III (Mahogany dining-room furniture at Saint-Cloud Palace, 1855; many mahogany furniture in the Compiègne and Fontainebleau palaces, 1859), and after 1862 for Queen Victoria. Specialized in the making of furniture style, the Duke of Aumale commissioned him to furnish Chantilly Castle, and Mrs. Pelouze, Chenonceaux Castle. Grohé participated brilliantly in the Universal Exhibitions and was there several times a member of the jury. According to the report of the jury of the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition, Grohé is described as “the undisputed master of the modern cabinet-making, was awarded all forms of praise, as he won all series of rewards.” Maxime Boucheron finally quoted in a Figaro newspaper’s report in 1884 that “Grohé was a truly great master of the art of the nineteenth century woodwork. A career spanning more than fifty years has filled our museums and national palaces with incomparable masterpieces. He assured the preponderance of French taste in furnishing luxury.”

Works to be linked

This console, very illustrative of Second Empire style, can be related to a large ebony and rosewood armoire executed by G. Grohé for the “Salon des Guise” in Chantilly castle (Condé museum, Chantilly).

Bibliography

Musée des Familles, Lectures du Soir, t. XI, juillet 1844, p° 317

Collection Maciet, vol. 344,6, Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Deuxième Album Liénard, dessin CD 4132-126, Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

L’Ameublement moderne par MM. Prignot,Liénard, Coignet et plusieurs autres artistes spéciaux, 2 vol.,Charles Claesen, Paris, 1876.

P. Liénard, A. Doussamy, Portefeuille de Liénard : motifs inédits applicables aux arts industriels et somptuaires choisis et mis en ordre par MM. Liénard et Doussamy, sculpteurs, Charles Cklaesen, Paris, s.d.

Les ornemanistes du XIXe siècle. Compositions d’ornements par Feuchère, Liénard, etc., Ducher et Cie, Paris, s.d.

M. Liénard, Specimens de la Décoration et de l’Ornementation au XIXe siècle, 3 vol., Charles Claesen, Liège, 1866.

D. Alcouffe et alii, « Un âge d’or des Arts Décoratifs », Grand-Palais, Paris, 1991.

B. Liénard, Motifs ornementaux : motifs et décors du XIXe siècle, Auxerre, H. Vial, 2003.

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Bronze caster
(Active since 1840)

Display table

Signed Matifat, Paris 1851
France

Height : 80 cm (31,5 in.) ; Width : 85 cm (33,5 in.) ; Depth : 67 cm (26,3 in.)

Masterpiece presented at the 1851 Universal Exhibition held at the London Crystal Palace.
(Reproduced and commented in “Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations 1851”, Reports by the juries, Vol.III, p°1106)

Exceptional gilt and chased bronze table, with a porphyry marble top surrounded by a border of acanthuses and pearl motifs. Supported on four legs in the shape of gryphon heads, whose wings are made of acanthus leaves. Resting on four clawed feet.

Biography

Charles Stanislas Matifat studied under the direction of the silversmith Antoine Vechte. He then succeeded his father in 1840 at the head of the family business founded in 1820, whose workshops were located No. 9 rue de la Perle in Paris. Charles Matifat exhibited for the first time in his own name at the Paris Exhibition of Industrial Products in 1849, where the jury awarded him a silver medal. At the Universal Exhibition of 1851, taking place in the stunning Crystal Palace in London, Charles Matifat (No. 923 of the French section) presented among many pieces, this table entirely made of gilded bronze and a large Louis XIV style chandelier commissioned by the king of Holland, William III, to his palace in The Hague. His show widely commented by critics earned him a second class medal. In 1853, Matifat who already had premises in London, participated in the Exhibition of Industrial Arts in Dublin. He worked a lot for the English nobility, such as Lord Londesborough who commissioned bronze candelabra. At the London Universal Exhibition of 1862, Matifat presented a chandelier made for the Duchess of Sutherland. In addition to his small scale art production, Charles Matifat also produced monumental bronze works after the great French sculptors models. He cast in 1860 the statue of the Marquis Dupleix, sculpted by Theodore Gruyère, then in 1873 the statue of General Daumesnil, sculpted by Louis Rochet. The same year, he made two important casts : The Abruzzo Child after the plaster sent from Rome by André-Joseph Allar and the Fountain of the Four Parts of the World created by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Emmanuel Frémiet in the Observatory gardens in Paris. During this period, Charles Matifat made several lampposts in the Grand Staircase of the new Opera recently built by Charles Garnier.

Bibliography

Cristal Palace, Album de l’Exposition, 1851, p. 265.

The Art Journal illustrated Catalogue, The Industry of all Nations, London, 1851, p. 48-50 & 324.

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Cabinet-maker
(1839-1920)
(attributed to)

Elegant table

France
Circa 1880

Height : 70 cm (27,5 in.) ; Width : 76 cm (30 in.) ; Depth : 47 cm (18,5 in.)

A very fine Louis XV style rectangular table, made in Satinwood, Tulipwood and Kingwood. Raised on four cabriole legs, each surmounted by a gilt-bronze mount and ending on cast feet. Surmounted by a serpentine-shaped top inlaid with an elegant stylized flower and palmet motif marquetry. The frieze, containing a long drawer, allover decorated with a fine « end-cut » floral parquetry, characteristic of Durand’s work (in D. Ledoux-Lebard. Les ébénistes du XIXe siècle, Paris, 1984, p°183).

Biography

Gervais Durand (1839-1920) participated in the 1889 Universal Exhibition where he was awarded a silver medal. A. Picard’s exhibition report stated that, « Mr Durand, cabinet-maker, as skillful as modest, displays for the first time very fine furniture, which has been designed and made by him. He is walking in the footsteps of giants such as Beurdeley and Dasson ». Durand made almost exclusively reproductions of 18th Century masterpieces, among which, those made by the most famous Parisian cabinet-maker, supplier of the Royal family : B.V.R.B. His works reveal in all points the great harmony between the forms, marquetry decoration and bronzes.

Related work

Tables made around 1745 after similar models by B.V.R.B. known and exhibited : Louvre Museum, Decorative Arts Museum (Paris) ; Victoria & Albert Museum (London) ; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).

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Cabinet-maker and bronze caster
(1847-1919)
(attributed to)

A rare center table

France
Circa 1880

Height : 75 cm (29,5 in.) ; Width : 95 cm (37,4 in.) ; Depth : 55 cm (21,6 in.)

Made exclusively in richly carved boxwood ; with a fine pierced belt ornamented with laurel branches. Raised on four legs joined by a stretcher, centred by a carved boxwood vase. Topped with a red Griotte marble.

Beurdeley liked to use boxwood because of its hardness. Beurdeley, this cabinet-maker and sculptor at the same time, could then making pieces of furniture presenting a very high quality of carving. He showed for instance a beautiful boxwood table at the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition (in « Beaux-Arts et Arts décoratifs à l’Exposition Universelle de 1878 », p.395).

Biography

In 1875, Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley (1847-1919) was at first assistant to and later succeeded his father Louis-Auguste Beurdeley, one of the main cabinet-makers of the Second Empire, specialising in XVIIIth century furniture. Louis-Auguste was the star whenever he exhibited and was “most favored by the royal and imperial families”. Although he produced the same kind of works of art as his father, Alfred Beurdeley was also a very well-known art collector and a skilled bronze sculptor. With Dasson, Grohé, Sauvresy and Fourdinois, the most famous artists of the period, he took part in the 1878 Universal Exhibition and won the gold medal. Crowned with glory he went so far as to open a shop in New York. His participation in the 1883 Amsterdam Universal Exhibition drew considerable attention to his work and “Alfred Beurdeley, Fabricant de bronzes d’art” was then awarded the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s hightest official mark of recognition. He thus won the respect of both the government and contemporary art critics. His last presentation was during the 1889 Universal and International Exhibition, when the director of the Exhibition wrote in his report : “The talent of Mr Beurdeley is self evident when one inspects his furniture.”

Bibliography

L’univers des bronzes, Yves Devaux, Ed. Pygmalion, Paris, 1978, p. 261.

“La saga Beurdeley (1814-1919)“, Bernard Dorival, B.S.H.A.F., 1989, p° 191.

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France
Circa 1880

Height : 115 cm (45,2 in.) ; Diameter : 40 cm (15,7 in.)

A beautiful and large display column made of tinted wood. Composed of an upper rotating top, with three turned wooden handles. Resting on a large shaft whose grooves are topped by gilt-bronze button motifs. The molded base rests on an octogonal plinth.

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Cabinet-maker
(1825-1896)

Secretary with painted medallions

Signed henry Dasson

France
Circa 1880

Height : 138 cm (54,3 in.) ; Length : 95 cm (37,5 in.) ; Depth : 40,5 cm (16 in.)

A very fine Louis XVI style upright secretary, executed in ambony and palisander veneer, finely decorated with painted medallions presenting mythological scenes. Mahogany insider. Fine chiseled and gilded bronze mounts. « Brocatelle d’Espagne » marble stretcher and top. This work was inspired by the 18th century models executed by Adam Weisweiler.

Biography

As a cabinet-maker and a bronze-caster, Henry Dasson executed in his Paris workshop, installed at 106 rue Vieille-du-Temple, sumptuous copies of royal 18th century models and some pieces of his own modified 18th century design. He used for his pieces of furniture and « objets d’art » the very finest ormolu mounts with high quality mercurial gilding. He purchased the firm of the cabinet-maker Charles Winckelsen upon his death in 1871 and mainly produced in the Louis XV and Louis XVI style. His participation at the Paris 1878 Universal Exhibition was highly remarked with a Louis XVI style table, all in bronze and considered as a « chasing masterpiece », and a copy of the famous King Louis XV desk (original piece exhibited at the Versailles Castle), which was also admired by critics. At the 1889 Universal Exhibition, he won a « grand Prix » for his beautiful furniture. Dasson closed down his business in 1894.

Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820) became Master in cabinet-making on March 26th 1778. He settled his workshops in Paris, on Faubourg-Saint-Antoine Street. Weisweiler was one of the great masters of the Louis XVI style. From German origin, he is assumed having received his training in the workshop of Roentgen. He came to France before 1777, year of his wedding in the capital city. He worked primarily for the « marchand-merciers » like Daguerre, whom sold Weisweiler’s works to Queen Marie-Antoinette. Very talented in his art, he developed a personal style, combining various materials such pietra-dura, lacquer or Sèvres porcelain plaques. Unlike most of cabinet-makers, the Revolution didn’t affect his production; Weisweiler worked under the First Empire for Queen Hortense. A large part of his production is now displayed in public collections such in the Louvre Museum, the Paris Decorative Arts Museum, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Cabinet-maker
(1839-1920)
(attributed to)

Important flat desk

France
Circa 1880

Height : 79 cm (31 in.) ; Length : 198 cm (78 in.) ; Depth : 101 cm (39,7 in.)

Important double-side flat desk in kingwood and satinwood veneer, opening with three frieze drawers. Mounted with Rocaille style chiseled ormolu representing shells, foliage and flower garlands. Raised on four cabriole legs ornamented with chiseled ormolu.

related work

This flat desk is inspired by the one executed by the cabinet-maker Joseph Baumhauer, which was offered by King Louis XV to Empress Elisabeth I of Russia in 1745. It is now exhibited in the Los Angeles Getty Center.

Biography

Gervais Durand (1839-1920) participated in the 1889 Universal Exhibition where he was awarded a silver medal. A. Picard’s exhibition report stated that, « Mr Durand, cabinet-maker, as skillful as modest, displays for the first time very fine furniture, which has been designed and made by him. He is walking in the footsteps of giants such as Beurdeley and Dasson ». Durand made almost exclusively reproductions of 18th Century masterpieces.

Joseph Baumhauer died in 1772 in Paris. This important French cabinet-maker born in Germany was appointed Dealer and Cabinet-maker to the King around 1749. He executed bureau plats, corner cabinets, chests of drawers and secretaires.

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France
Circa 1880

Height : 81 cm (31,8 in.) ; Length : 183 cm (72 in.) ; Depth : 96 cm (37,8 in.)

A rare double-side Louis XV style flat desk, made of kingwood and satinwood veneer ; opening with three drawers decorated with a beautiful flower motif end-cut wood marquetry. With fine chased and gilded bronze enrichments made of rococo motifs. Topped with a tooled red leather writing surface. Raised on four ormolu-mounted cabriole legs.

related work

After the famous 18th century model known as the « Choiseul desk » made by Jacques Dubois (1693-1763) around 1750 for the Château du Raincy. Now preserved at the Paris Louvre Museum (OA 6083).
(Reproduced in « Le mobilier Français du XVIIIème siècle », par P. Kjellberg, Ed. de l’amateur, 1989, p°269)

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Bronze-casters & Art objects Editors
(attributed to)

Exceptional marquetry cabinet

France
Circa 1880

Height : 112 cm (44 in.) ; Length : 101 cm (39,7 in.) ; Depth : 46 cm (18 in.)

Blackened wood side-cabinet, opening with a central cupboard door underlined with gilt-bronze rods, flanked by two small onyx columns encircled with bronze. With a very fine and elaborate « Boulle » ornamentation inlaid with wood, copper, brass and lapis lazuli and ornamented with arabesque, acanthus and palmet motifs. An ormolu molded base resting on six top feet. Topped with Brèche marble.

Very close to a « Meuble à hauteur d’appui » of similar design and ornamentation, however presenting single wooden posts on each side. Signed Susse Frères on the lock (Private collection, Paris).

Biography

Awarded medals several times at the famous Paris « Expositions des Produits de l’Industrie », Susse Frères (Brothers), Victor (1806-1860) and Amédée (1808- 1880), were known since 1841 as makers of « Art bronze pieces for clocks, candelabras, statuettes, etc ». Installed Place de la Bourse in Paris, they also presented at the second storage of their luxurious shop « fine furniture, ormolu mounted porcelain pieces and art objects ». As a worldwide renown foundry, the Susse company began to cast pieces as soon as the first half of the 19th Century The most well-known French sculptors gave their sculpted models to Susse in order to cast them, such Pradier who signed in 1841 the oldest known publishing contract for bronzes between a publisher and an artist. After the death of the two brothers, Albert Susse took over the business from 1880 until 1922.

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Cabinet-makers
(Active since 1883)

Important regulator-wardrobe

Signed Forest à Paris

France
Circa 1890

Height : 285 cm (112,2 in.) ; Length : 200 cm (78,7 in.) ; Depth : 65 cm (25,6 in.)

A rare Louis XIV style wardrobe with a break-fronted ogee pediment, made in mahogany and satinwood veneer. Opening with two side cupboards flanking a regulator clock, richly decorated with marquetry adorned with roses, laurel wreaths, acanthuses and ribbons. Beautiful gilt-bronze ornaments made of oval and heart motifs, water leaves banded frames, rosettes and laurel branches surrounding an Apollo mask. At the pediment surrounding the regulator dial, a superb and large gilt-bronze cartouche is composed of three putti symbolizing Time and a drapery. The wardrobe stands on a large plinth and six feet, two of which are large gilt-bronze clawfeet.

Inspired by a wardrobe enclosing a regulator clock, made by André-Charles Boulle, circa 1715. Preserved at the Wallace Collection, London (Inv. F429).

Biography

Maison Forest was established since 1883 in Paris, at 14 rue Pierre-Picard, then at 31 rue Cambaceres. The furniture produced by the firm stands out for its high quality gilt-bronze mounts and furthermore for its notable ébénisterie and fine decoration. Maison Forest presented their products at the Universal Exhibition held in Chicago in 1893.

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France
Circa 1880

Silvered bronze

Height. : 57 cm (22,4 in.) ; Diam. : 37 cm (14,5 in.)

Pair of Louis XIV style five lights candelabras. Chiseled and silvered bronze. Ornamented with palmettes, medallions and feminine masks. Central stem with guilloche motifs, resting on an octagonal base.

To be linked : a silver candlestick made around 1720 by the French silversmith Jacques Besnier, after a model designed by Jean Bérain (1640-1711). Now preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Reproduced and commented in « L’art du luminaire », J.Bourne, V.Brett, Flammarion, 1992, p°50).

Wall sconces, chandeliers, candlesticks and candelabras considerably develop during the 17th century. Their refinement reflects the social situation of their owner. The sophisticated ornamentation, solemn and rigorous, is generally inspired by the designs of Jean Bérain, Daniel Marot, C. de Moelder or Le Pautre, whose books of studies circulate throughout Europe, inspiring other craftsmen. At the end of 17th century and at the beginning of 18th century, ornemanistes bring a new life to decorative arts, liberating these from the Le Brun classicism and opening the way to Regence style, lighter and more intimate.

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France
Circa 1880

Height : 53 cm (20,8 in.) ; Width : 34 cm (13,3 in.) ; Depth : 24 cm (9,4 in.)

Chased and gilt bronze sconces, each comprising a central shaft surmounted by an « antique brasero ». Issuing three up-turned grooved candle branches joined by a foliate garland and terminating in candle rings decorated with acanthus leaves.

Related work

Made after a gilded bronze wall light designed around 1775 by Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1789).
(Commented and reproduced in H. Ottomeyer, and alii, Vergoldete Bronzen, T. I, Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich, 1986, p° 187)

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