Skip to main content

Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

French, 1810-1892

Founded by one-time Parisian wallpaper dealer Ferdinand Barbedienne and engineer Achille Collas, one of the most revered foundries in 19th-century France began with the invention of a revolutionary 1830s-era device that could produce proportional reproductions — large or small — of sculptures. Collas’s machine, which yielded miniature likenesses of antiquities for the interiors of homes the world over, was pivotal to the success of the F. Barbedienne Foundry. The successful firm earned prestigious awards and critical acclaim and created exquisite bronze candleholdersclocks and lamps for a range of wealthy and prominent clients. 

The duo first launched their company under the name Société Collas et Barbedienne, and early on, they optimized chemical processes for pigmenting and patinating their bronze statuettes. After Collas died in 1859, Barbedienne forged on alone, and the company’s name changed to simply F. Barbedienne.

Barbedienne employed more than 300 workers at that point, and the Maison created a range of furnishings and decorative objects that featured the integration of marble and ormolu accents. However, with the onset of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the foundry was forced to retrofit its molds, and the production of cannons replaced sculpturesfurniture and vases.

When Ferdinand Barbedienne passed away in 1891, his nephew and heir, Gustave Leblanc, took over as president, changing the name to Leblanc-Barbedienne. Leblanc expanded production into Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, carrying on the company's legacy with monumental sculptures, and models and securing production rights for famous statues. Paul-Alexandre Dumas, an Art Nouveau maker and student of Louis Majorelle, succeeded Leblanc until the company's closing in 1952.

Barbedienne pieces had been exhibited regularly in the 19th century and were especially prevalent at Europe’s international expositions and world’s fairs, where they received numerous prizes. Today, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris holds dozens of Barbedienne works in its collection, including intricate mirrors, vases and cups created by Louis-Constant Sévin at the foundry. For more than two decades, Sévin created lamps, boxes and more at Maison Barbedienne. Working alongside award-winning chaser Désiré Attarge, Sévin designed Napoleon III-era works that greatly appealed to European nobility.

Other notable artists who collaborated with Barbedienne included Eugene AizelinEmmanuel FremietAntonin MerciéEmile GuilleminEdouard LievreFerdinand Levillain and Auguste Rodin.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of antique Ferdinand Barbedienne decorative objects, lighting and more.

3
to
3
3
3
3
1
3
3
3
1
1
1
3
3
69
66
22
19
9
Creator: Ferdinand Barbedienne
Dealer: Alexander's Antiques
19th C. French Islamic Champleve Enamel Vase and Underplate, Signed Barbedienne
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
A Fantastic 19th century French Islamic/Orientalist Style Champleve Enamel Vase and Underplate, Signed F. Barbedienne. The wide-mouthed vase terminates down a narrowing body and is m...
Category

1850s French Islamic Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Enamel

Pair of Doré Bronze Mtd Rouge Marble 9-Arm Candelabras, Signed by Barbedienne
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
A fantastic pair of Louis XVI style doré bronze mounted rouge marble 9-arm candelabras with doré Bronze Hercules Masks and doré bronze swirling S-style...
Category

1860s French Louis XVI Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Pair of French Japonisme Ormolu Vases E. Lièvre, Executed by F. Barbedienne
By Edouard Lievre, Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
An important and monumental pair of very fine 19th century French Japonisme/Orientalist ormolu vases designed by Edouard Lièvre and Executed by Ferdinand Barbedienne. Each body with an oval shape, finely sculpted in a floral design, fringed by orientalist style handles with cartouches, the neck surmounted by a circular pierced scrolling dragon frieze. Each vase resting on a group of four orientalist style jeweled elephant...
Category

1870s French Japonisme Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze

Related Items
Ferdinand Barbedienne Set of Gilt Bronze-Mounted Champleve Onyx Garniture
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in Guaynabo, PR
This is a Ferdinand Barbedienne set of gilt bronze-mounted champleve onyx garniture. It consist of two urns and one large oval vase/jardiniere. The vase...
Category

Late 19th Century French Empire Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Onyx, Bronze

Pair of 19th Century Miniature Gilt Bronze and Champlevé Enamel Vases
Located in London, GB
A pair of gilt bronze and champlevé enamel vases Constructed from solid fire-gilded bronze, the miniature decorative vases supported on square plinths rising from paw feet, the co...
Category

19th Century French Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu

Wonderful Pair of Tiffany Studios Dore Bronze Art Nouveau Two Arm Candelabras
By Tiffany Studios
Located in Roslyn, NY
A wonderful pair of Tiffany Studios Poppy flower bud centers candelabrum, in the Art Nouveau Design finished in doré bronze gold finish Stamped: Ti...
Category

20th Century American Art Nouveau Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze

19th Century Tinned Copper Indo-Persian Islamic Vase
Located in North Hollywood, CA
Antique Islamic metal copper hookah bottle base of spherical form and decorated with a recessed repeated floral, geometric motif with a deer figure. 19th century Bronze tinned copper...
Category

19th Century Indian Islamic Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Copper, Tin

Large Neo-Greek Vase by F. Levillain & F. Barbedienne, France, circa 1890
By Ferdinand Levillain, Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in PARIS, FR
Important neo-Greek vase in the shape of an Amphora, made in two patina bronze. The body is decorated with a rich continuous frieze in bas-relief presenting a procession of characters carrying their offerings to the temple, underlined by a decoration of theatrical masks among olive trees. The 's'-scroll handles decorated with grape vines, resting only on the shoulder of the vase, are supported by a ram’s head. Numerous palmettes and friezes adorn the whole. Resting on a molded marble circular base. Biography Ferdinand Levillain (Paris, 1837-1905) studied under the sculptor Jouffroy (1806-1882), before making his debut in 1861 at the French Artists Salon where he continued to exhibit until 1903. At the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris, he was praised for a Neo-Greek style bronze cup he made for the firm Blot and Drouard. He was not to become really famous, however, until 1871 thanks to his association with the great bronze founder Ferdinand Barbedienne, who began to exhibit Neo-Greek style lamps...
Category

1890s French Greek Revival Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Ferdinand Barbedienne, A French Ormolu and Champleve Enamel Jardiniere, C. 1870
By Louis-Constant Sevin, Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
Ferdinand Barbedienne, A French Ormolu and Champleve Enamel Jardiniere, C. 1870, The Design Attributed to Louis Constant Sevin. An exceptional qualit...
Category

19th Century French Napoleon III Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu

Neoclassical Style Marble, Gilt and Patinated Bronze Candelabra by Barbedienne
By F. Barbedienne Foundry
Located in London, GB
The leading bronze manufactory of the French Belle Époque, Barbedienne, is responsible for the design of these exquisite candelabra. The Barbedienne foundry was established in 1838 b...
Category

19th Century French Neoclassical Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Japanese Champleve Vase, late 19th C
Located in New York, NY
Japanese Champleve Vase with dragon head handles, late 19th century. Provenance: From 300 Central Park West estate. Dealer: S138XX
Category

Late 19th Century Japanese Other Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Ceramic

Ferdinand Barbedienne, a French Ormolu and Champleve Enamel Jardiniere, C. 1870
By Louis-Constant Sevin, Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
Ferdinand Barbedienne, A French Ormolu and Champleve Enamel Jardiniere, C. 1870, The Design Attributed to Louis Constant Sevin. An exceptional qualit...
Category

19th Century French Napoleon III Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Ormolu, Enamel

French 19th Century Pair of Lacquered Bamboos Japonisme Vases
By Edouard Lievre, Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
A 19th French century pair of Lacquered Bamboos Japonisme vases. An amazing pair of tall cylindrical bamboo vases decorated in Japanese Gold and Sil-ver Hiramaki-E Lacquer with Pavilions in The Mist and Weaving Figures, Flown Over by a Pair of Cranes. Enclosed in a Sino-Japanese Inspiration Golden and Brown Patina Bronze Mount Featuring Elephant Heads, Partially Openwork Branches and Salamanders Forming Side Handles. Circa 1870 Attributed to Édouard Lièvre (1828-1886) and Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) Édouard Lièvre (1828-1886) is one of the most talented and prolific designer and industrialist of the 19th Century, his repertoire is sometimes Sino-Japanese or Neo-Renaissance, whether in furniture or works of art, we can note in particular the parade bed of Valtesse de La Bigne, furniture commissioned by the painter Édouard Detaille or even Sarah Bernhardt, and the famous works in collaboration with Maison Christofle or those in gilded bronze and cloisonné enamel edited by Ferdinand Barbedienne, presented at the Universal Exhibitions in 1878, 1889 and 1900. He was both a draftsman, painter, illustrator, engraver, ornamentalist and cabinetmaker, first trained in the studio of the painter Thomas Couture, Lièvre was then fully immersed in the world of decoration, creation and ornamentation and provides designs for manufacturers and merchant-publishers. Often assisted by his brother Justin, he first produced works of art for his own apartment, seeking out the finest craftsmen to execute his designs for bronzes, ceramics, fabrics and luxury furniture from great virtuosity and great taste. He then collaborated with the cabinet-maker Paul Sormani, as well as haberdasher merchants such as the Escalier de Cristal, bronziers such as Maison Marnyhac and especially Ferdinand Barbedienne as on our vases with bronze mounts characteristics of Edouard Lièvre's work. Born in 1810, died in Paris in 1892, Ferdinand Barbedienne, the most important caster of bronze pieces of art during the second half of the 19th Century, created and directed in Par-is one of the major artistic foundries of his time. Barbedienne specialized in classical reproductions, whose models were exposed in famous European museums. Their illustrated catalogues included many diverse objects such as busts, ornemental sculpture (clocks, candelabras, cups) sometimes even life-sized and bronzes for furniture. Apart from his own produc-tion, Barbedienne worked for the most renowned sculptors such as Barrias, Clésinger and Carrier-Belleuse. All his works were highly esteemed and he, himself honored by contemporary critics. At the London exhibition in 1851 Barbedienne’s firm won two « Council medals ». At the 1855 Universal Exhibition, he won a medal of honor. The success of Barbedienne’s firm brought him many official commissions, such in about 1860, as Barbedienne supplied bronzes for furniture for the Pompeian Villa of Prince Napoléon-Joseph, located avenue Montaigne in Paris. At the London Universal Exhibition of 1862 Barbedienne won medals in three different categories: Furniture, Silversmith work and Artistic bronzes. Barbedienne was made an officer of the Légion d’Honneur in 1867 and Commander in 1878 when he was compared with « a prince of industry and the king of bronze casting ». His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes. “Japonisme” in the second half of the 19th century, was a craze for everything that came from Japan or imitated its style. The word was first coined in a series of articles published by Philippe Burty, from May 1872 to February 1873, in the French magazine “la Renaissance Littéraire et Artistique”. Far from the Academic sphere, artists seeking for new ways of expression, appropriated this discovery. Manet and the impressionists led the way to half a century of enthusiasm for Japanese art, and largely contributed to the esthetical revolution Europe experienced between 1860 and the beginning of the twentieth century. From 1862, The World’s Fairs provoked massive arrivals of fans, kimonos, lacquers, bronzes, silks, prints and books that launched the real era of Japonisme. With those exhibitions, the demand was boosted, the number of merchants and collectors was multiplied, and artists became passionate about this new esthetic. For them, its “primitivism” was probably its most important quality: artists were fond of the Japanese art’s capacity to be close to nature and to reconcile art and society by representing, with a lot of care, the most trivial objects. In painting, Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Degas, Van Gogh, Gauguin were among those who were deeply inspired by Japanese art, affected by the lack of perspective and shadow, the flat areas of strong color, the compositional freedom in placing the subject off-center, with mostly low diagonal axes to the background. The Japanese iris, peonies, bamboos, kimonos, calligraphy, fish, butterflies and other insects, the blackbirds, cranes and wading birds, the cats, tigers, and dragons were endless sources of inspiration, appropriation, and reinterpretation for European artists. The occidental productions were combining styles and artistic conceptions instead of copying Japanese art slavishly. That is what brings to light the comparison between the artworks of Kitagawa Utamaro and Degas, of Katsushika Hokusai and Van Gogh The World’s Fairs of 1851 and 1862 in London, those of 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900 in Paris, of 1873 in Vienna and of 1904 in Saint Louis presented a number of “Japanese-Chinese” installations with earthenware, bronzes, screens and paintings and attracted the largest amounts of visitors In Vienna, the “Japanese village...
Category

1870s French Japonisme Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze

A Champlevé Enamel Jardinière by Ferdinand Barbedienne
By Ferdinand Barbedienne, Louis-Constant Sevin
Located in Brighton, West Sussex
A Champlevé Enamel and Gilt-Bronze Mounted Jardinière by Ferdinand Barbedienne, the design attributed to Louis-Constant Sévin. This fine jardinière is decorated all over with foliate...
Category

19th Century French Antique Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze, Enamel

Wonderful Pair Dore Bronze Two-Arm Winged Putti Cherub Neoclassical Candelabras
Located in Roslyn, NY
A wonderful pair of doré bronze two-arm winged putti cherub neoclassical candelabras Measures: 18" H x 6.5" W x 4" D.
Category

1920s French Empire Vintage Ferdinand Barbedienne Furniture

Materials

Bronze

Ferdinand Barbedienne furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Ferdinand Barbedienne furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Ferdinand Barbedienne furniture, although gold editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Ferdinand Barbedienne were created in the neoclassical style in europe during the 19th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Eugene-Antoine Aizelin, Mathurin Moreau, and Henri Picard. Prices for Ferdinand Barbedienne furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $611 and can go as high as $350,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $15,800.

Recently Viewed

View All