Ref.10637
Napoleon III monumental vase in Porcelain of Paris with the Triumph of Venus mounted in gilt bronze with espagnolettes

This exceptional monumental vase in porcelain of Paris, conceived in the spirit of the Sèvres Manufactory’s productions, is quite characteristic of the Napoleon III style . The long neck of the shape is extremely rare, as well as the gilt bronzes’ richness of ornamentation. Its dimensions and its important bronze mount indicate a ceremonial piece, of supreme luxury, comparable to those the Manufactory exhibited at the World's Fairs . Evoking the aristocratic art of the Ancien Regime in many ways, this vase pays tribute to the refinements of the 18th century, and could have been commissioned to decorate the mansion of a 19th century personality.Indeed, the “Celestial blue” background, embellished with gold arabesques, is characteristic of the porcelains from the Royal Manufactory of Vincennes as early as 1753, which became the Sèvres Manufactory. It is a famous blue, difficult to obtain, which served to decorate the first service delivered to Louis XV.The lively shapes of the bronze base also evoke the art of the ornamentalists in Louis XV’s time, such as Jean-Claude Duplessis or Gouthiere, who were in charge of drawing gilt bronze mounts for China porcelain. The bronze mount of our vase is hence very close to the Duplessis’ ornementations.The two espagnolettes, with sheathed busts of women holding garlands of flowers, seem to evoke the sculptures that adorn the front of Marie Antoinette ’s Theater at the Petit Trianon of the Versailles Palace. This large vase is decorated with painted medallions, hosting a still life on one side and the miniatures of famous subjects on the other. Indeed, it is an unambiguous composition after François Boucher's The Triumph of Venus (1740) that adorns the large main medallion, while the small medallion on the neck represents a famous portrait of the Princess of Lamballe. The characters of the large medallion are all present in Boucher's original painting, but the porcelain painter has reinterpreted them to propose a more concentrated composition, fitting perfectly to the surface of the vase. One recognizes the large striped veil characteristic of this painting where putti are spinning, as well as the group around Venus, especially the Triton with a seaweed crown, and the Mermaid with the diadem of pearls. The Tritons with the conchs present to the left of the painting were thus brought closer to the main group in this miniature. Let us note  that the composition has been reversed, probably having been made from an engraving of the painting.The medallion on the neck of the vase is a portrait of Madame de Lamballe, an intimate friend of Queen Marie Antoinette , who became Superintendent of the Queen's House. Numerous miniatures have been produced from a famous painting by Louis-Edouard Rioult where she appears wearing a crown of flowers and ribbons. The Princesse de Lamballe is known for her virtue and renowned sweetness, but also for her interest in the Enlightenment.This monumental vase is an important work, characteristic of the grandiose productions presented at the World's Fairs of the time of Napoleon III. But it is also a work of art full of references to the art of the 18th century, heir of the Age of Enlightenment.

Ref.10841
Jean-François GECHTER (Att. to) - "Bonaparte crossing the Great Saint Bernard", important patinated bronze sculpture

This important patinated bronze sculpture, representing General Bonaparte crossing the Great-Saint-Bernard, is attributed to the romantic sculptor Théodore Gechter (1796-1844). The general is represented according to tradition, « calme on a fiery horse », although he had crossed the pass on a mule. The prancing animal confers a dynamism to the composition, which is reinforced by the grandiloquent gesture of Bonaparte draped in a loose cloak. The victorious general, with an idealized face, looks at the spectator and shows him the direction to follow, this third political way which he sought to impose between the royalists and the republicans . This beautiful sculpture was executed after the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). This representation commemorates the victorious passage, in May 1800, of the Great-Saint-Bernard pass by the reserve army under the direction of the First Consul, the first stage of his triumphal reconquest of Italy. With great audacity, Bonaparte played the surprise by crossing a pass, deemed impratical in the spring. He returned to the feat of great captains of the past : Hannibal, passing through the Alps with his elephants in 218 during the Second Punic War, and Charlemagne, in 773, in his fight against Lomabards. Even before the Napoleonic victories, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Wagram, the painting inscribed the name of Bonaparte among those of the greatest conquerors of History. The composition of David, taken up by Théodore Gechter, is an absolute icon, archetype of the representation of the hero of the Revolution, probably the most famous portrait of Napoleon around the world. There are several bronzes edition of this model. The representation of Gechter differs in several points from that of the painter J. L. David. General Bonaparte, realized by Gechter does not look at the spectator but at the ground. This rocky and eventful base underscores the obstacles that General Bonaparte has had to face and thus reinforces his heroic action. It should also be noted that Gechter did not go so far as to inscribe the names of victorious conquerors on the rock, as in the case of David’s painting. We find the fiery movement of the characters in Charles Martel and Abdérame, King of the Saracens, plaster group presented by Gechter at the Salon of 1833. A bronze model, commissionned by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, melted by Gonon is now preserved in the Louvre. The sculptor represents Charles Martel in armor slaying his enemy. The representation of the rider is a pretext for the study of the movement and contortions of the horse. The expression of the warriors pride and this victorious feeling is the sign of a romanticism peculiar of Gechter. The artist has taken great care with the modeling of theses faces, perfectly catching the light. The precision in rendering the details is obvious (the helmet, the crafted brigantine, the chainmails). In addition, Gechter alternates in his compositions rough surfaces, smooth or chiseled throughout the sculpture, precisely as in the Bonaparte crossing the Great-Saint-Bernard. The extraordinary quality of our sculpture, the composition in movement, the precision in the rendering of the details suggest that it is indeed a model of Gechter, executed around 1840. This bronze sculpture is of high quality, by the delicacy of carving, the quality of the details and ornaments, the fiery movement, which are characteristic of Théodore Gechter, a romantic sculptor who particularly liked the modeling of horses.

Ref.11440
Edouard LIEVRE (1828-1886) - A center table with fantastical masks

This center table was designed around 1878 by Édouard Lièvre . Predominant artist of the Japonism in France, Édouard Lièvre experienced two successive professional lives: first as an illustrator, then as an ornamental designer and cabinetmaker, during which time he produced pieces of furniture in a neo-Renaissance style as well as in the Japanese style. Coming from a modest family in eastern France, he began working very early in a lithographic printing house in Nancy before drawing decorative objects for a foundry in the Meuse region. Then he moved to Paris, where he attended the studio of the painter, engraver and lithographer Théodore Valerio. After a trip to Brussels in 1847, he entered the studio of Thomas Couture, academic painter, and he will realize, in watercolor, a copy of the Romans of decadence, noticed by the critic Paul Mantz during the Salon of 1847. Following the donation to the Louvre Museum of the Charles Sauvageot collection, he was commissioned to publish a selection of works: the two volumes appeared in 1863 under the title "Musée impérial du Louvre : Collection Sauvageot dessinée et gravée à l’eau-forte par Édouard Lièvre". He then began "Les Collections célèbres d’œuvres d’art dessinées et gravées d’après les originaux par Édouard Lièvre", which was published in 1866. In 1870, Alfred Darcel, curator of the Louvre's art objects, wrote the introduction of his new book: "Les Arts décoratifs à toutes les époques". Édouard Lièvre worked for various amateurs as well as for works of art editors for which he drew decorative art models. After his death, the two sales (in 1887 and 1890) during which his possessions were dispersed, were a resounding success thanks to the press. This beautiful center table perfectly illustrates the artist mastery and his taste for luxurious materials. He chose rosewood for this piece, rare and precious exotic wood, whose dark color enhances the brilliance of gilded bronze ornaments. Warm tones and purple veining bring nobility and character to the furniture. The legs curved shape is counterbalanced by the straightness of the H stretcher and the apron, thus mixing grace and sobriety. The care given to the details is characteristic of Edouard Lièvre's production who seems to "embroider" the wood by producing openworked patterns with extreme precision. Those which adorn the apron of our table are delicately performed. They link the differents parts of the table by inserting the apron through an elegant stylized flower while extending to the curved corners formed by the legs. These openworked decorations are ornated with arabesques, scrolls and stylized plant elements. They are quite representative of the syncretic aspect of Lièvre’s works which mixes different sources of Western and Eastern inspiration. One can observe the same kind of motifs in Gabriel Viardot’s works, another predominant figure of Japonisme in France, who adorns his furniture with a "lace" of carved wood made in the same spirit, despite some formal differences (of which a more geometric aspect). The apron of our table is adorned with a gilded bronze symbol evoking the shou ideogram, synonymous with longevity. This one is also noticeable on a jardiniere made by Édouard Lièvre for Ferdinand Barbedienne, witness of the vogue for a fantasized Orient and reconstituted through composite elements adapted to Western culture. The tops of the legs are adorned with fantastic masks which are specific to this table model and of which an identical copy is preserved in the Orsay Museum in Paris. These masks represent a creature that could be a lion or an oriental dragon forming a fall decorated with plant scrolls and covering the curve of the leg. The same ornaments are present on the gilded bronzes feet. Gilded bronze cartouches are inserted at regular intervals on the stretcher. The latter is decorated, in its center, with a gilded bronze grooved ball featuring foliages. All these bronze elements are in their original condition, covered with an old gold patina and not re-gilded. A beautiful marble slab is insetted in the table top and framed by a moldered rosewood bordure. This "Brocatelle" marble takes its name from a fabric which name comes from the Italian word broccato, technique of fabric manufacture by the "broaching" process. Particularly fragile and difficult to carve, it is still very popular for its decorative value. It is more specifically a "Spanish Brocatelle" because of its extraction site which is in the Pyrenees. The quality and the beautiful tones of this marble (pale pink jasped with yellow, white and gray) contribute to consider this table as a masterpiece. To date, we know only five tables on the same model and each of them has a different marble top. The one preserved at the Orsay Museum and mentioned above includes a Violet Breccia marble top. The other tables listed (perfectly identical, with the exception of the marble top) are kept in private collections and show other types of marble such as Campan or Sarrancolin. The after death inventory of Édouard Lièvre mentions one of these tables with a marble top made out of Aleppo Breccia

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.11377
Very beautiful Japanese bedroom furniture in sycamore

These japanese bedroom furniture were made in the late 19th century of tainted sycamore in the taste of Gabriel Viardot or the production of the Maison des Bambous and includes 3 pieces : - A bed (H : 267,5 cm ; L : 157 cm; P : 208,5 cm) - A bedside table (H : 80,5 cm ; L : 60 cm ; P : 37,5 cm) - A wardrobe (H : 235 cm ; L :148 cm ; P : 53 cm). The bed is adorned with a very high headboard with Japanese open work friezes to which was hang a beautiful and colored tapestry in the same taste, adorned with an ibis in plants very characteristif of the Far-East. It also depicts an engraved and in relief decoration of asian motifs, bamboos and dragons, lightened up with inlaid element of mother-of-pearl. The bedside table is composed of an engraved slab with rolled edges, it opens with a small drawer with its key and a small cupboard having also its keys. The door is also adorned with inlaid mother-of-pearl. The asymmetrical wardrobe, as it is very often the case in the production of Japanese furniture, opens by a large mirror door, a drawer and a small cupbord. Its decoration in relief is lightened up with a mother-of-pearl inlaid scene depicting characters sat under a temple. One of the furniture mounts takes the shape of an ibis on a turtle shell.

Ref.15606
BALLEROY & Co. (porcelain), Joseph Albert PONSIN (painter), Pair of Decorative Plates Adorned with Portraits of an Assyrian Man and Woman, 1876?

This Pair of Ornamental Porcelain Dishes Was Crafted by the Company Balleroy & Cie in Limoges and Decorated by Joseph Albert Ponsin, Likely in 1876 Both dishes bear the mark of the company Balleroy & Cie. In 1900, brothers Antoine and Henri Balleroy acquired a factory in Limoges. Their partnership with Léon Mandavy and Paul Grenouillet de Mavaleix four years later resulted in the formation of the company “Balleroy & Cie”. The Balleroy brothers continued the business independently from 1908 onward, and Henri Balleroy eventually assumed sole leadership in 1929, managing the enterprise until its closure in 1937. The works are signed by Joseph Albert Ponsin (1842-1899), a former actor and songwriter who became one of the most renowned stained-glass painters of the late 19th century. Awarded a bronze medal at the 1889 World Fair, Ponsin also designed a “luminous palace” made of several thousand molded glass pieces for the 1900 Paris Exhibition. His use of porcelain is highly unusual within his work. The decorations on the two dishes are complementary, both in their chromatic harmony and in the selection and poses of the figures. The male figure’s profile exudes a certain severity, despite his slightly smiling lips. His long hair is matched by a similarly full beard. He wears an earring, and his opulent tunic combines gold and green. The female figure, in contrast, stands out against a blue background. Her attire is distinctly oriental: her gown is trimmed with gold, and her long black hair is adorned with a veil, secured on each side by two serpents and a wide golden band. In front of her is a white bird with a long yellow beak, which wraps its neck around one of its wings. Beneath the artist’s signature, the inscription “1[8?]76” provides an approximate date for the creation of these works. The portrait of the man bears a resemblance to the Dish with Assyrian Design by Théodore Deck and Albert Anker, housed in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Both Anker and Ponsin appear to have drawn inspiration from the same source: Sir Henry Layard’s publication, The Monuments of Nineveh from Drawings Made on the Spot Illustrated in 100 Plates (London, 1849). In Ponsin’s work, the male figure’s profile closely mirrors those in Layard’s book, though he took greater liberties than Anker in his interpretation of the character’s headdress.

Ref.11700
Louis MALARD, Unique “Ramses-Style” Bedroom in Walnut With Gold Leaf Embellishment, 1889 World’s Fair

H. 271 cm / 106” 11/16; W. 260 cm / 102” 3/8; D. 232 cm / 91” 5/16 (bed without canopy) H. 74 cm / 29” 1/8; W. 231 cm / 90” 15/16; D. 148 cm / 58” 1/4 (canopy) H. 73 cm / 28” 3/4; W. 212 cm / 83” 7/16; D. 74 cm / 29” 1/8 (bench) H. 101 cm / 39” 3/4; W. 45 cm / 17” 3/4; D. 42 cm / 16” 9/16 (chairs) This extraordinary neo-Egyptian set bedroom crafted in carved solid walnut and enhanced with gold leaves (yellow, green, and red), was created by Louis Malard for display at the 1889 Paris Exhibition, where it earned him a silver medal. The cabinetmaker Louis Malard operated a workshop and furniture store located at 9 bis, rue Maubeuge in Paris. The establishment produced and sold furniture in various styles, particularly historical ones. It exhibited different furniture ensembles at the 1889 and 1900 World’s Fairs. Various reports and advertisements published in Le Figaro allow us to date his activity to between 1886 and 1903. The centerpiece of this bedroom set is the bed. While it does not resemble Egyptian beds as depicted in archaeological findings from the 19th century, it incorporates the architectural and artistic codes of ancient Egyptian art to create a monumental, unique work that aligns with the requirements of modern comfort. The canopy is adorned with an Egyptian temple pylon at its center, flanked by vultures with outstretched wings – symbols of the goddess Nekhbet – and lotus flowers. The headboard features sphinx figures, various hieroglyphs, and scenes inspired by ancient monuments, including Ramses II on his chariot at the Battle of Kadesh (circa 1274 B.C.E.). The artist drew inspiration for this from a low-relief in the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, as documented by Jean-François Champollion in his work Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie (Monuments of Egypt and Nubia). On either side of the headboard, the bedside tables are decorated with life-size seated figures whose poses mimic the monumental statues of ancient Egypt. Their garments reflect the iconographic codes of feminine fashion visible in the low-reliefs of ancient art. The foot of the bed is guarded by two lion-sphinxes in a hieratic posture, while the frame combines hieroglyphic signs, worshipper figures, and representations of the god Anubis. The bed is accompanied by a bench whose decoration mirrors that of the bed frame, along with the motif of sphinxes, and a pair of chairs adorned with scarabs – sacred animals to the Egyptians symbolizing the god Khepri, the rising sun. The presentation of this bedroom furniture at the 1889 Paris Exhibition was a resounding success: in addition to the silver medal awarded to its creator, it received widespread critical acclaim, including a highly favorable article in Le Figaro. It also achieved commercial success, being purchased by Countess Bathilde Ducos (1851-1927), daughter of a former Minister of the Navy under Emperor Napoleon III. It was sold as part of a theatrical yet less elaborate furniture ensemble forming a bedroom: a wardrobe, a fireplace, and a pair of draperies. This bedroom set was auctioned in 1896, probably to Charles Henri Duquesne, whose family kept it until 2019, when it was acquired by the Galerie Marc Maison. Today, this bed serves as a reminder of the fascination that 19th century artists and their contemporaries had for ancient Egyptian art, which inspired rich creations and reinterpretations. Literature: Le Figaro, July 1, 1889, 35th year, 3rd series, no. 182, p. 2, in the “Courrier de l’Expostion” section. Charles Oudart (dir.), Gazette de l’hôtel Drouot, Saturday, June 30, Sunday, June 31, and Monday, June 1, 1896. Jean-François Champollion, Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie…, volume I, Paris, Firmin Didot Frères, 1835, plate XIII.