Ref.13030
Beautiful antique fireback with Albert de Luynes's coat of arms, 17th century

This beautiful antique fireback was made in the 17th century. It shows the coat of arms of the Albert de Luynes family hold by two savage men with a ducal crown, a peer coat and the king's orders. Born on December,25th 1620 in the Louvre and dead on the 10th of Octobre 1690 in Paris, Louis-Charles d'Albert de Luynes second duke of Luynes and peer of France, was a translator and moralist. He was the first one to translate in French the work of René Descartes. We also owe him many moral and devotion books. Son of Charles d'Albert, duke of Luynes, Louis XIII's favorite, and of Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, Louis-Charles d'Albert de Luynes was received to the parliament as a peer on November, 24th 1639 and as knight to the king's order on December, 31th 1661. He lived for a long time with the Solitaires of Port-Royal, building a castle in Vaumurier, very close to the Port-Royal-des-Champs Abbey where he received Blaise Pascal and the young Jean Racine. He was also distinguished on the head of his regiment attacked by the Spannish in Arras on August, 2nd 1640 and for many other occasions. After his death, his body was brought to the church of the hospital de Luynes that he founded and exhumed there. An identical fireback is kept on the hôtel Bouthillier de Chavigny, 7 rue de Sévigné à Paris, and illustrated on Philippe Palasi's book "Heraldic firebacks"

Ref.14742
Pair of andirons with lion heads

These small ormolu andirons are crowned with a shell surmounting a pair of scrolls. In between the scrolls there is a lion’s head holding a ring in its mouth. Each andiron rests on two scrolled feet at the front.