Ref.12655
Ettore XIMENES (1855-1926) (attr. to), « Boy with a beret », Carrara marble bust, Second half of the 19th century

This Carrara marble bust was made in the second half of the 19th century, it depicts a boy with young features, his head turned slightly to the left. He is dressed with a sailor collar jacket and a large beret. This sculpture can be compared with another bust depicting a similar subject and made by the Italian sculptor Ettore Ximenes (1855 – 1926). It's the representation of a boy, obvisouly a little bit older than ours, frowning and smoking a cigarette. He is dressed with a fabric around his shoulders and a beret put on his head in the same way than in our bust. Ettore Ximenes is an Italian sculptor, painter and illustrator, born in 1855 in Palermo and dead in Roma in 1926. He starts his artistic career by taking class at the Art Academy of Palermo, then from 1872 he enters the Royal Academy of Napoli where he spends time with the painter Domenico Morelli (1826 – 1901) and the sculptors Stanislao Lista (1924 - 1908) and Vincenzo Gemito (1852 – 1929). Finally, he wins in 1874, a scholarship to study for four years in Firenze. The works of art he makes at his beginning are very realistic like in the two busts presented here. Later, he starts adding symbolic elements et Neo-Renaissance ones answering the artistic trend of the end of the century. All along his career, he participates to many European exhibitions such as the International Exhibition of Vienna in 1873 or the one in Paris in 1878 where he meets the French sculptors Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917) and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827 - 1875). He participates also to the Napoli exhibition in 1877 where he exhibits a full-size sculpture untitled “Balance” which depicts a gymnast woman walking on a sphere, of which many small bronzes were made after. From the 80's, he makes many monumental projects in Italy and decides to dedicate himself to it from 1911 to enliven the public spaces of the world by sculpting for some cities like New York, Sao Paulo, Kiev or Buenos Aires.

Ref.13458
Louis - Constant SEVIN & Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE - Beautiful pair of ornament vases in bronze and cloisonne enamel, circa 1862

This beautiful pair of vases is the result of the collaboration between Louis Constant Sevin (1821 – 1888), drawer and designer, and Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810 – 1892), bronze maker and founder of the famous 19th century foundry of the same name. Indeed, even though they are only bearing the signature of the last one, we can compare our vases to another pair presented on the Barbedienne's stand during the International Exhibition of London in 1862 depicting the same decor. We owe to the associations of the two men – which has lasted for more than thirty years, between 1855 and 1888 – an important collection of works of art and especially vases, showing the same colors and technical. Our ornamental vases were made in bronze and show an outstanding and abundant decoration of enamel cloisonne. The gilt bronze on the blue background and the polychromatic richness of the motif reminds of an imaginary and an inspiration coming from the East. They rest on three gilt bronze feet with cat's heads, finished with claws. We notice in the shape and the decoration an eastern inspiration but above all an eclectic one, characteristic of the artistic tendency in France under the Second Empire. Indeed, Constant Sevin was inspired by patterns belonging to the Arabic, or Persian decorative repertoires for the decoration. While the handles with cat's heads tend toward reminding Egypt, the technic of divided enamel dates back to Middle Ages. With the creation of this pair of vases Ferdinand Barbedienne and Constant Sevin participate to the reborn of champleve enamel in the middle of the 19th century. Indeed, the polychromatic decoration, omnipresent in the industrial arts during the Second Empire, finds in this technic a perfect expression. Inspired by examples of champleve enamels made during the Middle-Ages, this technic was innovated by obtaining directly during the melt the network of partitions to produce a draw of a irreproachable clarity and regularity. The first technical tries of Barbedienne were made near 1858 and four years after he presents in the Great Exhibition of London a stand mainly composed of works of art inlaid of enamels – very likely the model of our vase – which does not leave the critic indifferent. Alfred Darcel (1818 – 1893), art critic, said in his report on the Great Exhibition of 1862, published in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts : "Among the numerous works of art exhibited by Mr Barbedienne, we did not see anything more gripping than the objects decorated with enamels, kind of decoration he knew how to apply with success. […] With enamels painted that have conceded nothing to the most beautiful works of art of the 16th century first masters.[…] "