Ref.2646
Very beautiful antique Louis XV style fireplace made out of Red Griotte marble with gilded bronze ornaments

This exceptional Louis XV style antique fireplace in Red Griotte marble and gilded bronze was made in the 19th century. The sculptures on this fireplace, shells and foliage, are made entirely in finely chiselled gilded bronze.

Ref.3255
Antique Louis XVI style fireplace mantel with round corners in Griotte marble and gilt bronze ornaments

This antique Louis XVI style fireplace was made in the 19th century in a Griotte type marble, with a matching three-square marble floor . This round-cornered model features two fluted pilasters with gilt bronze asparagus, and three golden bronze rosettes, the one in the entablature's center is flower-shaped. The luminosity of the marble, speckled with many colors, is enhanced by the bronze's gold.

Ref.10926
Antique large urn in French granite, mid-19th century

This large antique urn in French granite was made in the mid 19th century. The urn is decorated with a molded decoration and is on a pedestal whose lower part presents delicately carved patterns. One of the sides of the pedestal is adorned on its central part with carved volutes and geometric shapes.

Ref.12410
Earthenware umbrella holder representing a fish coming out of a wave

Umbrella stand in polychrome earthenware made in the 19th century, representing a fish coming out of a wave.

Ref.12600
Louis-Constant SÉVIN (1821-1888) and Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE (1810-1892), Exceptional Pair of Ornamental Vases in Bronze and Enamel, model presented during the International Exhibition of London in 1862

This exceptional pair of vases is the result of the collaboration between Louis Constant Sevin, drawer and designer, and Ferdinand Barbedienne, bronze maker and founder of the famous 19th century foundry of the same name. These vases are the same than a model presented on the Barbedienne's stand during the International Exhibition of London in 1862. 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 ornament vases were made in bronze and show an outstanding and abundant decoration of champlevé enamel. 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. The vases are adjoined with three gilt bronze handles with cat's heads, finished with claws on which they lean. The tie is adorned with amethyst cabochons. 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 the Greek style for the shape in amphora and 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 champlevé enamel dates back to Middle Ages. Thus, although critics spoke about a Byzantine style in 1862 for the inspiration of those vases, it seems more appropriate to talk today about eclecticism. Louis Constant Sevin having drew in visual references different by their styles, their periods of time or their geographic areas. 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. 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 – like the model of our vase – which does not leave the critic indifferent. Successful, these vases were republished, maybe for private orders, sometimes with some changes, such as the cat's ears orientation, the feet shapes or the replacement of cabochons by palms, nevertheless the pattern stayed the same. We can find for instance, two similar vases, forming a pair in the collections of the Orsay Museum in Paris.

Ref.13161
Jules LARCHER - Nymphs at the fountain, oil on canvas

This painting, whose upper side is curved, shows two nude nymphs in a landscape. The first one is busy filling a vase at the fountain; she is bent over to hold the urn under the trickle of water and leans, with her left leg and arm bent over the rocks bordering the spring. The second, seated on the ground in a languid posture that emphasises her nakedness, leans against the tree behind her and casually places her left hand on her own vase. Her lips are stretched into a slight smile that reveals her teeth and she keeps her eyes downcast. The pale skin is bathed in a soft light, standing out against the darker background, the deep green foliage forming a barrel vault above the nymphs. Nymphs are female divinities linked to the world of nature, particularly with the ones of forests and water. They are also linked to the erotic imagination, as seductive female figures. However, because they belong to the mythology, their representation is often a pretext for depicting female nudes. Here, the characters adopt two different positions, like in the exercise of the "academy" (the representation of the naked body). The female figures are idealised by the artist, who represents a canon of beauty rather than individual features and forms. The summer landscape itself is a setting invented to create a green environment around the characters. Jules Larcher (1849-1920) was born in Lorraine. After learning how to draw at the Nancy municipal drawing school, he went to Paris. There, he studied painting with Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). He exhibited regularly at the Salon, the major Parisian painting exhibition of the 19th century. His most famous work is the painting Daphnis and Chloé (1849, Nancy, Musée des Beaux-arts). He exhibited it at the Salon in 1883, and it was acquired by the State for the museum where it is still kept. Its iconography and style are close to his Nymphs’: two naked young people are set in a landscape of undergrowth. Chloe’s position is similar to that of the nymph filling her vase at the fountain. As with the nymphs, the light skin tones stand out against the shadow of the wood. In 1886, Larcher was appointed curator of the Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture and director of the École des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, to which he gave a new development. In 1894, he married Maria Roy, a flower painter who had been his pupil in Nancy. As indicated by a label sticked to the back of the frame, which also gives the artist's name and the title of the work ("M. Jules Larcher / appartient à Mme J. Larcher / Nymphes à la / Fontaine (Huile)"), the painting would have belonged to the artist's wife.