Ref.17256
"The Dragons", Rare pair of gilt-bronze wall sconces in the Japanese taste

Gilt-bronze A dragon in the Chinese style gracefully wraps his slender body around a branch of stylized branches. The inspiration for these sconces comes from the Orient, more specifically China, and they express the taste for Oriental art in vogue at the end of the 19th century. This was the result of the opening of Asia to the West, through their participation in international exhibitions, as well as the collections that were formed by wealthy and enlightened art collectors, such as Henri Cernuschi or the Empress Eugénie who installed a Chinese Museum at Fontainebleau. These contacts meant there was a new decorative repertory, greatly appreciated, that the designers of the 19th century could draw upon when creating elegant new objects for their clientele.    The stylized cloud motif around the dragon and the head of the monster are also characteristic of this same source of inspiration, which encouraged decoration that was both elegant and sophisticated, and was emblematic of a refined lifestyle. Such works integrated perfectly in the distinguished interiors of connoisseurs and lovers of Asian art of the period. This pair of wall sconces, formerly attributed to Édouard Lièvre, took its inspiration from the work of the greatest designers of the period, such as Reiber or Viardot.    The high quality of the chasing of the bronze and the finesse of the fabrication show that these sconces are the work of a true bronze artist who was smitten by this Far-Eastern taste and created an important work of art destined to decorate the most luxurious interiors of the period.  

Ref.11249
Pair of cassolettes with blowers and griffins, in Napoleon III style, in Vert de Mer, Jaune de Sienne marble and gilded bronze.

Very nice pair of antique Napoleon III style cassolettes made out of gilded and chiseled bronze, Siena yellow and sea green marbles, revealing a beautiful polychrome. The work of bronze is quite interesting, especially in the patterns of griffins and players of aulos. Wind instrument very used during the Antiquity in religious rites, the aulos is composed mainly of a pipe pierced with holes, most often played in pairs. The general shape of these cassolettes is reminiscent of the Athenian, sort of pedestal table with three high feet supporting a shelf or a basin, forming a cassolette, a burning-perfume or a basin to wash the hands. Appeared at the end of the 18th century, the Athenian is inspired by the models of antiquity found during the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Neoclassicism of the decorative vocabulary, combined with the shape of these cassolettes inspired by Antiquity and the polychromy of the materials mark well a Napoleon III style realization of high quality where eclecticism is the signature.

Ref.11450
Rudolf ERNST (1854-1932) - Portrait of a high-ranking Austro-Hungarian dignitary

This extraordinary portrait was painted by Rudolf Ernst according to a very particular and very innovative technique. It is indeed painted porcelain including a metallic mesh. The work depicts, on an ocher background, an elderly man, with a long white beard and bushy eyebrows. His gaze - a bluish gray - is fixed on the spectator. Richly dressed, he wears an emerald green velvet doublet embellished with brown fur at collar, armholes and sleeves. These velvet sleeves open on a beautiful gilded fabric (probably silk) puffed on the upper part and tightening above the elbow. He wears a green velvet hat with exposed lapels covered with fur. All these elements indicate the rank of the man represented: no doubt he is a high dignitary or a member of the Austro-Hungarian nobility. In the present state of our research and according to our knowledge, it is difficult for us to give a date to this work but it could have been exhibited at the World’s Fair of 1889 during which the artist was awarded a bronze medal. Rudolf Ernst is a French-Austrian painter. Born in Vienna in 1854, his father was a painter and architect. He was a member of the Vienna Fine Art Academy where Rudolf Ernst entered as a student in 1869. In 1874, he left the Academy to complete his training in Rome before moving to Paris in 1876. He exhibited regularly, after 1877, at the Salon of French Artists, realizing, at first, genre scenes and portraits. He travels to Spain, Morocco and Turkey, where he paints portraits of Ottoman characters from the royal court. His orientalist paintings are the best known part of his work. He devoted himself to Orientalism in 1885, creating interiors of mosques or harems, chess players, hookah smokers and even beautiful odalisques. Particularly productive in the 1890s, Ernst was successful and received a bronze medal at the World's Fair of 1889 and a medal of honor at the World’s Fair of 1900. From his trip to Constantinople in 1890, he learned how to improve his production of earthenware tiles, a technique he had learned in Paris from Léon Fargue, a ceramist and glassmaker. His faience tiles are not only orientalist: he includes characters from the Commedia dell'Arte or the Renaissance. However, these works are of a reduced format, unlike our portrait which dimensions and technique reveal a particularly rare work.

Ref.13206
Cast iron fireback with the wedding coat of arms of Joseph-François de Montecler et Hyacinthe Menon de Turbilly, 17th century

Cast iron fireback with the wedding coat of arms of Joseph-François de Montecler et Hyacinthe Menon de Turbilly. Joseph-François de Montecler, marquis of Montecler, (1694-1766) married in 1716 Hyacinthe Menon de Turbilly (1699-1742), lady of La Rongère, of who the marquis de Sourches praised the beauty.

Ref.13832
Louis Majorelle, japanese style display cabinet

Ref.14697
Louis-Philippe period billiard table with marquetry

Magnificent billiard table made during the Louis-Philippe period in wood and gilded bronzes. It is decorated with a light wood marquetry on a dark background representing numerous small scenes and a set of circular gilt bronze rosettes all around.

Ref.15096
Louis XVI period trumeau decorated with a painting of a flowering vase

Ref.15702
AU VASE ÉTRUSQUE – Porcelain Vase with Aquatic Decoration

Porcelain vase with lid, marked AU VASE ÉTRUSQUE, PARIS. The surface features a hand-painted and gilt aquatic design on a light blue background. The decoration includes a stylized fish with gold highlights, jellyfish, aquatic plants, and rock formations, rendered in shades of gold, gray, and brown. The rounded body rests on a fluted base with gilded accents. The matching lid has a scalloped gold border and a finial decorated with vertical gold lines.

Ref.15775
GUÉRET FRÈRES (cabinetmakers) and CARRIER-BELLEUSE (model by), Pair of "Pages" torch holders, model from the 1867 Universal Exhibition

These two walnut torch holders signed Guéret Frères were displayed at the cabinetmakers' stand at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. In Les curiosités de l'Exposition universelle de 1867, Hippolyte Gautier commented on these two Renaissance pages: ‘of a good attitude; made of walnut wood, but alive and palpitating under their fleur-de-lis dalmatic’. In fact, one of the pages is wearing a coat that rests elegantly on his forearms, allowing us to admire a suit covered in gilded fleurs-de-lis, indicating that he is surely in the service of the royal family. The second page, of which the Schaezlerpalais in Germany owns a copy, wears equally luxurious clothes, but his coat gives him more structure thanks to its puffed shoulders. This diversity of costume contributes to the movement and vitality of the ensemble that Gautier describes.