ref. 1619

Maison Millet

Bronze-caster
(Active from 1853 to 1918)

Important pair of ewers

Signed MILLET A PARIS

France
Circa 1880

Gilded bronze, Marble

Height : 65 cm (25,6 in.) ; Width : 31 cm (12,2 in.)

Beautiful pair of Louis XV style ewers in « Brèche sanguine » marble and gilded bronze. Rich Rocaille decoration with asymmetrical foliage motifs, resting on an elegant openwork scalloped base. The handle is embellished with a finely chiseled threatening dragon.

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. Characteristic of the Millet firm’s production, the reinterpretation of the Rocaille style concerned both furniture and works of art. The mastery in the execution of curved lines, the delicacy in the asymmetrical representation of shells and plants suggest the influence of models of ornamentalists such as Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier for the realization of such works of art.

View of the workshop of the Maison Millet, presenting an ewer similar to ours.

Millet39

 

 

 

 

 

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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 authorization 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 internationally is then through its antenna in New-York « Duryea and Potter », 469 fifth avenue, New-York. The firm lasted until 1918.

Bibliography

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

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