An esteemed producer of bronze for many of Paris’s prestigious cabinetmakers during the late 19th century, Maison Mottheau et Fils is also renowned for elaborate furniture designs that combine function and decoration.
Throughout the late 1800s, Maison Mottheau et Fils designed and produced decorative gilt-bronze objets d’art and furniture, including ormolu-mounted tea tables and ornate Neoclassical-style clocks. However, the company was mostly known for its lines of exquisite Louis XVI wall lights, chandeliers, candelabras and lanterns. With the introduction of electricity in the 1890s, Maison Mottheau et Fils incorporated the new technology into its lighting fixtures, and the company flourished.
Maison Mottheau et Fils was inspired by famed bronzier Pierre Gouthière (1740–1806) in many of its designs; it also collaborated with several well-known French sculptors. Among them was Frédéric-Eugène Piat (1827–1903), who designed an onyx and gilt-bronze torchère lumineuse for the company that was shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Maison Mottheau et Fils’s display also featured a pair of large Napoleon III gilt-bronze candelabras, each lit by ten electric lights.
The company’s electrical lighting exhibit garnered critical acclaim, prompting the Art Journal to write in 1900 that the “French Section shows many examples of fine work applied under the new conditions, but we doubt if a more complete success is to be recorded to the credit of any exhibitor that can be conceded to Messieurs Mottheau et Fils.”
Today, pieces by Maison Mottheau et Fils continue to be highly sought by collectors of late 19th-century furniture.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of antique Maison Mottheau et Fils lighting, decorative objects and other furniture and collectibles.
Pair 19th Century Gilt Bronze Marble Urns by Maison Mottheau
By Maison Mottheau et Fils
Located in Houston, TX
Pair of 19th Century marble urns by Maison Mottheau. Each carved from solid marble and mounted with finely cast gilt bronze ram’s heads, laurel-leaf ornament, and pinecone finials, r...
Marble, Bronze
A Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze and Blue Enamel Cartel Clock and Barometer
By Maison Mottheau et Fils
Located in Brighton, West Sussex
A Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze and Blue Enamel Cartel Clock and Barometer, By Maison Mottheau & Fils., Paris. This exceptional cartel clock and aneroid barometer exhibit the finest p...
Bronze, Enamel
$9,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 28 in W 16 in D 4 in
Allegorical Louis XV Style Gilt Bronze Cartel Clock Depicting "Night and Day"
By Jacques Caffieri
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia
The clock features a cartouche shaped case housing an hour and half-hour striking movement with a round white enamel dial, indicating the Roman numeral hours and the Arabic five-minute intervals by means of two pierced patinated bronze hands...
Bronze
$188,846
H 98.43 in W 21.26 in D 13 in
Exceptional Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze and Malachite Grandfather Clock
Located in London, GB
Exceptional Louis XVI style gilt bronze and malachite grandfather clock French, late 19th century Measures: Height 250cm, width 54cm, depth 33cm This superb longcase clock is a wonderful example of the Belle Époque impetus to draw inspiration from the styles of the past. The clock, crafted during the late nineteenth century—though the malachite finish is later—is inspired by a famous eighteenth-century original. The clock is of traditional form, which a cubic clock case inset with an enamel dial and a gilt bronze bezel cast with signs of the zodiac. The central section of the clock includes a window, which reveals the pendulum inside, while the lower section is in the form of a plinth. The malachite veneer is wonderfully varied, with lighter and darker shades of the stone utilised to add visual interest. The clock is surmounted by a sculpture in gilt bronze of Apollo in his chariot, pulled by a quadriga of horses. The dial is signed for Rosel Bruxelles...
Malachite, Ormolu
$3,160Sale Price / set|20% Off
H 10.75 in W 4.125 in D 3.75 in
19th Century Neoclassical Gilt Bronze Grand Tour Mounted Urns, a Pair
Located in Atlanta, GA
These urns are extremely high quality in decoration and casting. True Neoclassical gilt bronze grand tour objects and what makes it better? A PAIR!.
Bronze
Pair of bronze and marble vases. 19th century.
Located in Madrid, ES
Pair of vases. Bronze, marble. XIX century. Pair of vases made of carved light marble with a stepped and circular base of the same material that also have decorative details in gild...
Marble, Bronze
Louis XV Chinoiserie Style Gilt Bronze Cartel Clock by Raingo Freres
Located in New York, NY
French 19 century Louis XV style Chinoiserie motif gilt bronze cartel clock works signed Raingo Freres.
Bronze
$4,024 / set
H 12.6 in W 4.73 in D 4.73 in
Antique Pair French Grand Tour Gilt Bronze & Marble Urns 19th Century
Located in London, GB
A superb antique pair of French Grand Tour gilt bronze and marble Borghese Campana urns, circa 1870 in date. This pair of gilt bronze campana urns is after the Borghese models, with...
Marble, Bronze, Ormolu
A Louis XVI Style Ormolu Cartel Clock
Located in Sheffield, MA
With a circular white enamel dial, surmounted by swags and ending with a woman’s face. Morbiere Movement
19th Century French Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze and Marble Urn
Located in Pittsburgh, PA
This Gilded Age incense or perfume urn is in the Louis XVI style. It features gilt bronze mounts of rams heads and foliate swags. The lid terminates in a pine cone finial.
Marble, Bronze
Antique French Louis XVI style gilt bronze cartel clock
Located in London, GB
Antique French Louis XVI style gilt bronze cartel clock French, late 19th Century Height 63cm, width 28cm, depth 10cm This elegant cartel clo...
Ormolu
19th Century Italian Neoclassical Wooden Urns/Finials, A Pair
Located in Bradenton, FL
Pair of 19th Century Italian Neoclassical Decorative Urns/Finials. The urns/finials exemplify the restrained grandeur and classical symmetry characteristic of the period. Hand-carved...
Wood
Pair of 19th Century French Bronze Urns
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of handled finely chased and cast bronze and dore bronze urns/garniture.
Bronze
$6,500 / set
H 23 in W 12 in D 9.5 in
Pair 19th Century French Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Marble Urns
Located in New York, NY
Pair of antique (19th century) French Sarrancolin marble urns with gilt bronze mounts in the Louis XVI rococo style measuring 23 by 12 by 9 1/2 inches.
Marble, Bronze
Sold
H 17.72 in W 8.67 in D 4.34 in
Neoclassical Gilt Bronze Clock and Barometer Set by Maison Mottheau
By Maison Mottheau et Fils
Located in London, GB
This beautiful clock and barometer are contained by matching gilt bronze cases, wrought in the elaborate Louis XVI style, the duo thus constituting a pair. The cases feature gilt bro...
Ormolu, Bronze
Sold
H 11 in W 13.5 in D 6 in
French Ormolu-Mounted Bleu Turquin Marble Figural Clock by Maison Mottheau
By Maison Mottheau et Fils
Located in Long Island City, NY, NY
A French ormolu-mounted Bleu Turquin marble figural clock by Maison Mottheau Paris, circa 1880. A very nice clock, with very good quality mounts...
Marble, Bronze, Ormolu
Sold
H 10.25 in W 21.5 in D 7 in
French Bronze Sculpture of a Lioness by Mottheau Foundry, Signed G. Poitvin
By Maison Mottheau et Fils
Located in Shippensburg, PA
FINE FRENCH BRONZE SCULPTURE OF LIONESS With foundry stamp of "Mottheau, Paris" and seal of "Syndicat Fabriq de Bronzes 1818 Unis" Signed "G. Poitvin" and impressed 1910, 22 and 10...
Bronze