Ref.10370
Important antique fireback with Jean Bouhier de Savigny coat of arms, first half of the 18th century

Importante and beautiful antique cast iron fireback with Jean Bouhier de Savigny coat of arms supported by two greyhounds. Made in the first half of the 18th century. Jean Bouhier de Savigny was President of Parliament of Burgundy since 1704. He was also a historian, translator, scholar and bibliophile. He resigned his post in Parliament in 1728 to devote himself to his historical and literary work following his election to the French Academy in 1727. He died in 1746. A similar fireback is kept at the Troyes Museum.

Ref.13774
"Niobe", alabaster statue after an original greek statue

Daughter of the king of Lydia, Tantalus, Niobe is reputed to have brought many children into the world, the Niobids. Vanityous, she dared to mock the goddess Leto, who had given birth to only two children, Apollo and Artemis. The revenge was terrible for the latter were charged by their mother to kill the Niobids. It is said that one of the girls, saved by her mother, escaped the massacre, but she retained a deadly pallor: it is this scene which is represented here in this alabaster sculpture of extreme whiteness.

Ref.11458
Japanese style crystal engraved vide-poche and gilded bronze frame with elephant heads

Small crystal engraved vide-poche inserted in a gilded bronze mount imitating bamboo and figuring elephant heads. French work of the 19th century.

Ref.10564
Porcelain and gilded bronze clock set with griffin

Clock set consisting of five pieces, a clock and two pairs of cassolettes, made in gilded bronze and porcelain in the 19th century. Two winged griffins adorn the upper part of the clock, while the protomes of griffins are found on the handles of the cassolettes. The syncretism of various stylistic influences is characteristic of the Napoleon III style.

Ref.12448
Pair of antique Louis XV style gilt bronze andirons with characters in costume

This beautiful pair of Louis XV style chenets was made of gilt bronze in the 19th century. It represents a couple of gallant characters in 18th century costume.

Ref.14308
Fireback with the arms of Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine and Bar

Fireback with the coat of arms of Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, son of Charles V, titular Duke of Lorraine and Bar and Eleonore of Austria. Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1690, he married Elisabeth Charlotte of Orleans, daughter of Philippe, Duke of Orleans and Charlotte-Elisabeth of Bavaria, Princess Palatine, in October 1698. He was responsible for the reconstruction of the Château de Lunéville from 1703 to 1723, when the court moved in.

Ref.14982
Mathurin Moreau for the Val d’Osne foundry, The Flower Fairy, late 19th century

This cast-iron sculpture was created by Mathurin Moreau for the Val d'Osne foundry, with which he collaborated, at the end of the 19th century. It depicts a winged young girl being led by a cherub. The composition of the sculpture is complex: the woman is seated in the form of an Amazon; her naked body forms a circular arc, her arm raised above her intertwining with long garlands of flowers. These link her to the cherub, who seems to be dragging the fairy through them, setting the whole composition in motion. The sculptor paid great attention to detail: the simple headband on the woman's head, the modest drape over her thigh and falling over the base, and the cherub's hair pulled back by the wind give the composition its liveliness. The sculpture's imposing pedestal is in harmony with it. It is divided into several compartments, the inside of which is decorated with floral motifs and various symbolic objects: two recorders forming an aulos (ancient wind instrument) accompanied by small birds, embodying harmonious music; a panpipes associated with grapes evoking the world of Dionysus; a sheaf of wheat and tools symbolising agriculture; a theatrical mask and a fool's hat with a tambourine and a curtain representing the performing arts. The sculpture of the Flower Fairy is shown in the catalogue of the Val d'Osne foundry (on plate 583), as is its pedestal, independently (on plate 570 bis). The combination of the two works was therefore the result of a desire on the part of the patron, who imposed his own taste on the commission. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston owns a copy of the Flower Fairy identical to our own. Mathurin Moreau also created another Flower Fairy, a statuette. This one is a young woman in a dancing posture, whose nudity is emphasised rather than concealed by a wet drape around her body. This very delicate figurine echoes the larger but no less elegant bronze sculpture.