Ref.9386
Four busts of Kings of France, former Beistegui collection

These four Neo-Renaissance style plaster busts represent Kings of France. They are copies of originals from the Renaissance and the 17th century that are in the Louvre. The first bust, copy of a bronze original, represents Louis XIII. For a long time, this sculpture was attributed to Jean Warin in the museum inventories but today specialists believe it is the work of Francesco Bordoni because it was found in the collection of his son Pierre Bordoni at his death. The three other busts are copies of works in alabaster and marble from the studio of the famous sculptor Germain Pilon (1535-1590). They are portraits of Henri II, Charles IX and Henri III. The four kings are wearing coronation clothes, each wearing the chain of the order of Saint Michael around their neck.

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.11360
Gabriel VIARDOT (attributed to) - Asymmetrical cabinet with rich engraved and sculpted decoration of extreme oriental inspiration

The realization of this cabinet is attributed to Gabriel Viardot, famous parisian cabinetmaker, specialized in chinese and japanese style furniture in the second half of the 19th century. Opens on the left side to a small door and a drawer with a gilded bronze grip on which a shelf with an openwork decoration of interlacing is supported. The door leaf is decorated with a large vase decorated with mother-of-pearl and bone inlay and adorned with carved flowers. On the right side a large door with a mirror and a richly carved pediment.

Ref.13171
CRISTALLERIE DE BACCARAT, Neo-Greek, krater-shaped vase, made out of coated crystal, and etched through hydrofluoric acid, 1867 World’s Fair

This krater-shaped vase made out of coated crystal is a work from the Baccarat crystal-glass making factory, between 1862 and 1867, year when similar models were displayed at the Parisian World’s Fair. It is the Baccarat manufacture’s second entry, the first being at the first Parisian World’s Fair of 1855. Baccarat does win a gold medal, in particular for two vases made out of ruby red crystal, and a crystal fountain of seven meters high. Created under Louis XV’s reign, the crystal-glass making factory got its international fame through its participations, all along the 19th century, and until 1937, to the World’s Fairs.he works of the manufacture are scarcely signed between 1764 and 1860, year where the first labels did appear punctually. Fifteen years later, a seal with the name of the firm is placed on some blowing models and gilded bronze pieces. It is not until 1936 that the « BACCARAT » brand, with a carafe and two glasses, started appearing systematically on every production. During the 1867 World’s Fair, Baccarat inspired itself from the Bacchus cult for most of its production. We can see in our vase the influence of ancient ceramics through the shape of a krater – a piece of ceramics used by Greeks to dilute wine with water – as well as in the composition and the decoration’s subject. The latest is engraved thanks to hydrofluoric acid, a technical mastered by the German chemist Louis Kessler in 1855, who did improve the chemical formula of the bath to make it less aggressive and thus, less dangerous. Baccarat bought the patent in 1864, allowing the manufacture to diverse its production and to reach a new level of virtuosity. Detaching themselves from an opaque, white background, pink colored figures are represented in the spirit of ancient decorations on ceramics. We can see on one face a maenad wearing a spinning drapery, holding a drinking cup in one hand and a thyrsus in the other – a stick similar to a scepter and crowned with a pine cone, Dionysus’s attribute. On the other side, two figures are placed face to face, a masculine and a feminine one. They might represent the divine couple of Dionysus and Ariadne : she is sat on an ancient seat, richly dressed, and addressing the half-naked young man that is also carrying a thyrsus. In order for this decoration to be perfect, the two figurative scenes are framed with different patterns : palm motif, interlacing, Greek key frieze and laurel leaves.The handles have been realized after : they were shaped in clear crystal, and then adorned with gold painting applied with a brush. Even if, until today, our vase is the only one known showing this krater shape and the color rose, other similar models, with similar decorations, does exist – in particular in blue and yellow. Moreover, this bacchanal scene on an opaque white background have been applied on other pieces produced by the firm, that can be seen in museums’ collections, such as the Corning Museum of Glass, the Chrysler Museum of Norfolk, the Musée d’Orsay or at the Petit Palais.

Ref.14981
Mathurin MOREAU for the FONDERIE DU VAL D'OSNE, "The Four Seasons", series of 4 cast-iron statues representing allegories of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

This set of garden statues was made by the famous Fonderie d'art du Val d'Osne at the end of the 19th century. They are a very good example of the collaboration between the manufacture and the sculptor Mathurin Moreau, the most famous artist who collaborated with the foundry. Each season is represented as a man or a woman, with classic attributes such as wheat for summer or vines for autumn. But he chose to orient the faces downward, thus anticipating a higher presentation of the statues. As is the case here since they are arranged on their original cylindrical one-piece stone bases. Our set is represented on plate 571 of the famous foundry catalog. The founder's mark is visible on the base of three statues, the fourth having disappeared following an ancient restoration.

Ref.10917
Édouard LIÈVRE (Author of the model, 1829 – 1886), Paul SORMANI (cabinetmaker, 1817 – 1874 or 1875) Neo-Renaissance ceremonial sideboard and buffet

This exceptional set of neo-Renaissance furniture designed by Édouard Lièvre was crafted by Paul Sormani, a renowned Italian cabinetmaker based in Paris. Enhanced with gilded bronze, marble inserts, and enamel plaques, this ceremonial sideboard and buffet are extremely refined and erudite. The pieces are signed with the initials “EL” and bear the Sormani workshop plaque. After the cabinetmaker's death, the company took the name “Veuve Sormani et Fils,” whose furniture bears the signature from 1877-1880 onwards. Signed “Paul Sormani,” our set would therefore predate 1877. The sideboard rests on two fluted Corinthian columns with rings. A series of drawers frames a sea green marble top. The imposing top is made of marble and the molded backrest features gilded bronze inserts. The popularity of troubadour painting and romantic subjects certainly explains the choice of characters for the gilt bronze medallions depicting the profiles of Charles VII and his mistress Agnès Sorel. The medallions are framed by bronze appliqués decorated with candelabra scrollwork. In the center of the composition, a diamond shape displays its gilt bronze scrollwork. The ceremonial sideboard is also richly decorated and full of references to Renaissance art. The lower section is organized around three central semicircular niches composed of rare bulging columns; the spandrels are decorated with sea green marble inserts. The doors feature two superb gilt bronze medallions depicting the profiles of Henry IV and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrée: the Renaissance period and the theme of passionate love are once again mythologized and elevated to romantic ideals. The pilasters feature marble diamond motifs, typical of 16th-century ornamentation. Édouard Lièvre combines different artistic media by inserting decorative enameled plaques into the upper register doors. These are directly inspired by the bas-reliefs of the Fontaine des Innocents created in 1548 by Jean Goujon, a famous sculptor at the court of Henry II. They are flanked by gilded bronze appliqués in the Renaissance style (festoons, mascaron, foliage, volutes). The upper register is organized around two semicircular niches composed of fluted and ringed Corinthian columns. The projections of the cornice feature a frieze of Greek waves and sea green marble plaques. The ensemble is crowned with coats of arms supported by gilded bronze acanthus leaves. The sideboard and its buffet are fine examples of Édouard Lièvre's talent for reinterpreting antique styles using modern techniques (electroplating) and his collaborations with the greatest cabinetmakers of the period. As well as reflecting the popularity of the Neo-Renaissance style in France during the 19th century, this set once again demonstrates the archaeological interest and immense erudition of its designer, who found inspiration in the streets of Paris and the capital's museums. In a similar style, Lièvre created a mirror for Sarah Bernhardt around 1875 and several Neo-Renaissance cabinets, some of which are decorated with decorative enamel plaques. In addition, the catalog of the dispersal of Édouard Lièvre's estate (Drouot sale, March 21-24, 1887) lists nearly fifteen Neo-Renaissance pieces of furniture.

Ref.14656
Ernest CARRIÈRE for CHRISTOFLE – Japonist Ovoid Vase “Seaweed and Fish” in Silvered Metal

This Japanese-inspired ovoid vase, designed by the ceramist Ernest Carrière, was produced by the renowned silversmith Christofle. The base is adorned with a frieze of seashells, and the body features a koi carp motif. The relief treatment of the carp lends the vase a unique presence, while the sinuous horizontal patterns represent seaweed swept by the current. The neck is decorated with a frieze of elegantly incised shrimp. A symbol of willpower, strength, and fertility, Japanese tradition attributes talismanic power to the image of the carp, ensuring happiness and wealth. Brother of the painter Eugène Carrière, Ernest Carrière (1857-1908) exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts between 1893 and 1908. The "Seaweed and Fish" model was created in 1894 and exhibited at the Salon the following year. Presented as number 177 with the somewhat dry title "metal vase: fish," it reflects the final waves of Japonisme and introduces the elegant organic forms of Art Nouveau. This model exists in several sizes. Our example is signed Ernest Carrière and marked with the Christofle hallmark under the base. The base shows traces of gilding.