Ref.11330
Japanese-style barometer with dragon and Foo dog decoration

This barometer, inspired by the Far East, was produced in the 19th century. Made of richly carved wood, it is decorated with a winged dragon in the upper part and a Foo dog's head in the lower part. The openwork decoration forming geometric interlaces and windings, as well as the pagoda roof shape, contribute to this Japanese-style aesthetic, which is very characteristic of the late 19th century and of the taste for Far Eastern works in Europe following the great World's Fairs of the time.

Ref.12932
Manufacture de Sèvres «Matinado », ceramic sculpture from a model by Félix CHARPENTIER, 1910

Our marble sculpture is a copy of the original model exhibited in the 1909 Salon des Artistes Français by Félix Charpentier (1858-1924), untitled « Matinado », morning in Italian. It was made by the Manufacture de Sèvres in 1910, as indicate the marks on the back. Félix Charpentier was an important sculptor in the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. After studying in the École des Beaux-Arts of Avignon, then in Paris, he shows in 1879, then regularly each year, his works in the Salon des Artistes français. He knows during all his career, a huge success and wins a silver medal in the International Exhibition of 1889, many medals for his sends to the Salon, very often bought by the State, and receives in April 1892, the Légion d’honneur. The plaster model of our sculpture depicting a stretching naked woman, was presented in the 1907 Salon des Artistes Français. Already considered as true masterpiece, the marble sculpture was ordered by the State to the sculptor in 1908, meaning one year before its official presentation to the Salon in 1909. This same year, the sculpture was attributed to Louvre Museum, then in 1911 to the Luxembourg Museum before being given in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Arras in 1926. For the plaster, also bought by the State, it was given to the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Histoire of Châteaudun. By knowing a true success, many reductions were made by the sculptor who had also a collaboration with the Manufacture de Sèvres to create in ceramic his most important sculptures like our beautiful awakened, which was very likely one of the first made. We can see one of the example on a photograph of the manufactory display in the Exposition Internationale urbaine de Lyon in 1914, and on another picture illustrating the article « La Manufacture de Sèvres à l’Exposition Internationale de Lyon » published in the newspaper Comœdia, on the 24th of january 1914.

Ref.13874
Affortunato GORI, Sculpture in Carrara marble depicting three busts of children on its original column

This Carrara marble sculpture bears the signature "A. Gori" of the Florentine sculptor Affortunato Gori (active between 1895 and 1925), from his real name Fortunato Gori. After studied in Firenze under the direction of Auguste Rivalta, our sculptor moves to Paris in the beginning of the 20th century and exhibits in the Salon des Artistes Français from 1902 and until 1923. He makes here a sculpture that is full of delicacy, hrough the representation in buist of three children hugging each other. One of them is kissing on the cheek the child with curly hair placed on the center of the composition, while the other one grabs his chin to bring his cheek closer to his, their arms crossing on the back. The sculptor translates with this work the expression of kindness and love, as it comes from their smiles and as we can read in the children's eyes. the ovale base ovale of our sculpture was made of a very beautiful Arabescato marble, it rests on a original pedestal forming an elegant column sculpted in Saint Rémy marble.

Ref.14082
Jules Vieillard & Cie Manufacture, Japanese-style Tea Service, between 1878 and 1886

Cups : H. 6,2 cm/2'' 7/16 ; L. 9,5 cm/3'' 3/4 ; D. 7,2 cm/2'' 13/16 Saucers : H. 2 cm/13/16'' ; D. 13,5 cm/5'' 5/16 Teapot : H. 16 cm/6'' 5/16 ; L. 19,7 cm/7'' 3/4 ; P. 7,5 cm/2'' 15/16 Milk jug : H. 9 cm/3'' 9/16 ; L. 12,5 cm/4'' 15/16 ; P. 6 cm/2'' 3/8 Sugar bowl : H. 15 cm/5'' 15/16 ; L. 17 cm/6'' 11/16 ; P. 8,5 cm/3'' 3/8 This exceptional Japonism tea set was created for the Jules Vieillard & Cie Manufacture in Bordeaux between 1878 and 1886; it is attributed to Amédée de Caranza. After the death of Jules Vieillard in 1868, the Jules Vieillard & Cie Manufacture, then the third largest ceramic factory in France, passed to his sons, Albert and Charles. The Vieillard brothers then developed new designs and shapes, launching a production of artistic faience intended to decorate the finest interiors. The son of a ceramist, Amédée de Caranza (1843-1914) developed a deep understanding of the art of ceramics and constantly sought new techniques. After working in his own workshop and for the Creil-Montereau factory, he became the workshop manager at the Vieillard Manufacture from around 1878 to 1886. He then opened his own workshop before moving to New York. He served as artistic director at Henri Copillet & Cie, where he worked with glass. For more information on this work, see the video on marcmaison.art

Ref.16223
Cast iron garden vase with a frieze of cupids and handles formed as winged putti

Cast iron garden vase of flared form, resting on its socle and octagonal base. The bowl widens towards the top and ends in a broadly overhanging lip, carried on a gadrooned belly, a socle and a base. This calyx form with projecting lip draws on antique kraters without reproducing any named model. The underside of the lip is decorated with a band of vine and grapes worked in low relief, continuing around the edge in a row of veined leaves. The lower part of the bowl is ordered by a row of full gadroons, separated by slender foliate falls that die away against the moulding of the socle. The frieze of the belly forms the essential of the decoration. At the centre, a cupid seated on a cloud holds above him a length of drapery gathered in one hand, while his other arm encircles a second child reclining at his feet. On either side unfold garlands of fully opened flowers, roses, anemones and poppies, each corolla individually rendered, their stems falling in festoons down to the handles. The handles are figural. Each is formed as a winged putto, draped to the waist, the torso standing in high relief clear of the belly and the arm folded above the head, the body bending and continuing into a foliate fall that rejoins the belly at the level of the gadroons. This treatment, substituting the figure for the scroll, required casting in several pieces and careful fettling, the result of which remains legible beneath the paint. The decoration belongs to the Second Empire taste for the eighteenth century, in which cupids and flower garlands take the place of the sacrificial repertoire of antiquity. It is the usual formula of the great French art foundries of the period, Val d'Osne, Durenne at Sommevoire, Ducel at Pocé-sur-Cisse or Barbezat, which adapted classical silhouettes by applying decoration of their own time. The octagonal base, with faces of 10 cm, less common than the square or circular plinth, is a distinctive feature of the model.