Ref.4267
Important antique Regence style mantel in Fleur de pêcher marble

Antique Regency style fireplace realized in the 19th century in a fleur de pêcher marble. The jambs are discreetly fluted and support a curved frieze decorated with paneled spandrels and adorned with a large Bolection characteristic of the Regence style.

Ref.12841
Jules LOEBNITZ (1836 – 1895), Ceramic panel “Child with a flower”

This rectangular panel made of enameled ceramic made by Jules Loebnitz in the second half of the 19th century depicting a child holding a bow in one hand and a flower in the other one from a painting by Emile Lévy (1826 – 1890). The Pichenot-Loebnitz factory was founded by Mr Pichenot, grand parent of Jules Loebnitz, in 1833. From 1841, Mr Pichenot had started the fabrication of uncrackable earthenware panels for mantel's interiors, showed with success during the Exhibition of 1844. Breaking with the traditional fabrication of white heating system, the Pichenot-Loebnitz factory, was one of the first to start the production of architectural earthenware decorations. In 1857, Jules Loebnitz, artist as much as an industrial, succeeded to his grand father and became director of the factory. He helped renovating the old mantels tiles during the restoration of the Castle of Blois before collaborating with the most important architects of his time Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Laval, Charles Garnier, Just Lisch et Paul Sédille. Between the architect Paul Sédille and Jules Loebnitz, a true friendship was born that leads them to collaborate very closely from 1867. The architectural polychromy theoretician had met the man that has brought important progresses to French ceramic, allowing the making of important uncrackable earthenware panels. Thus, during the Great Exhibition of 1878, Paul Sédille realized the door of the Palais des Beaux-arts, while Jules Loebnitz was in charge of the ceramic decoration of the facade, in order to advocate the renewed of architectural polychromy. For this purpose, he made a series of three panels taking as a model the paintings of Emile Lévy, kept today in the Musée de la céramique architecturale of Auneuil, depicting the Painting, the Sculpture and the Architecture, transposed to enamel by Lazar Meyer, a student of the painter. The Painting depicts a scene on which we can see a man painting three naked women in the characteristic position of the Three Graces. Cupid, asking for a flower held by one of the woman, has most likely been used too as a model for the one we can see on our panel, as they have the exact same body position. Indeed, the naked child with his red hair is standing by its profile on both panels, the left leg is out straight, the other is bend. He's holding in his left hand a bow and straight out his other hand to the sky, toward where he is looking. The difference is visible with the representation of the flower that the child is holding in our panel. On the contrary of the original painting, the background is abstract, the only décor is the flower behind the child. We also find on one of the plate from La brique et la terre cuite by Pierre Chabt – book that has contributed to the success of the manufactory after it was published in the 1880’s – a panel depicting the same subject with a different background. This model is today kept in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

Ref.13080
Important Chinese oak double door with dragons, circa 1950

This important double door was made in the 1950's out of oak. The ironwork depicts an asian decoration composed of abstract motifs that are softening the corners of the bars or adorning the knobs ; dragons with very detailed body parts and stylized bats. We also notice the importance given to the decoration details of the closing bar.

Ref.14832
Impressionist decor, large earthenware vase by Louis Auguste LEPÈRE for Faïencerie LAURIN

Designed between 1875 and 1878, this large ovoid vase is a technical feat due to its size and decoration. In earthenware, the polychrome decoration is made with slip, following a process developed by Ernest Chaplet at the Laurin earthenware factory in Bourg-la-Reine in 1871. The technique of slip painting was favored for making impressionist ceramics, in particular by Auguste Lepère. This painter, close to Félix Bracquemond, is the author of the landscape decoration which adorns our vase. It represents a Norman maritime landscape, between Dieppe and Etretat, with characteristic cliffs. The decor develops like a panoramic canvas, magnifying the beauty of the sky and illustrating the activities of the fishermen. The touch, vibrant and free, evokes the style of Eugène Boudin. The body of our vase is decorated with two lion heads modeled in relief. It rests on a sculpted and stained walnut base simulating a swamp populated with frogs.

Ref.5455
Louis XV style mantel in veined Carrara marble