Adrian Alan

A very rare Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and glass, Pendule a cage, by Francois Linke, with a white marble base. Linke Index no. 076'. Linke Title: 'pendule a cage'. Signed to th...

A pair of gilt and patinated bronze Ewers in the Manner of Clodion, by Maison Giroux. Signed ‘Alph. Giroux Paris’. Each ewer having a tapering ovoid body finely cast with a pa...

A Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze and Hardstone Inset Ebonised Pier cabinet. The bronze mounts stamped to the reverse 'PA'. This impressive side cabinet has fine gilt-bronze mounts set against an ebonised case, further enriched with hardstone panels...

A rare pair of Louis XVI style gilt-bronze mounted parquetry gueridons. Each table has a pierced gilt-bronze vitruvian scroll gallery with an inset grey marble top above a parquet...

A fine Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and sèvres style porcelain mounted jewellery box. Of rectangular for this charming jewellery box has a hinged lockable lid above silvered column...

A fine Louis XV style gilt-bronze nine-light chandelier. This impressive gilt-bronze tripartite baluster form cage chandelier is cast with a central vase issuing flowers and nine ...

A fine Louis XV style gilt-bronze Mounted Marquetry inlaid commode by Gervais Maximilien Eugène Durand. Stamped to the carcass beneath the marble top 'G. DURAND'. This fine co...

A pair of giltwood and Gesso pedestals, in the manner of Robert Adam. Each pedestal having a circular top with a waisted fluted socle, on ram's-mask headed acanthus-carved fluted monopodia, raised on a tiform-plinth with lion's paw feet. This neoclassical design is modelled after the antique Greek tripod...

A large and impressive Baroque style carved giltwood mirror, the rectangular mirror plate beneath a crest composed of a crown and a moon crescented cartouche flanked by stylised beas...

'Cupid & Psyche' - An important parcel-gilt and patinated bronze figure, by François-Raoul Larche. Signed to the base 'Raoul Larche 1891'. This finely cast parcel-gilt bronze figure depicts Cupid and Psyche with Zephyr. François-Raoul Larche (1860-1912), the son of an ornamental sculptor, was a well-known Art Nouveau sculptor...

A fine Swedish Empire style gilt-bronze and cut-crystal tent and basket chandelier. Swedish, Circa 1825.  

A fine pair of Louis XV Style gilt-bronze mounted marble Ewers, by Paul Sormani. Each ewer stamped to the underside ‘P.S.’ for Paul Sormani. Each e...

A fine Louis XV style gilt-bronze Mounted Mahogany side-cabinet in the manner of Charles Cressent, Attributed to François Linke. This fine side cabinet or 'Bas d'Armoire aux singe...

An Exceptionally Rare and Important Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marquetry Inlaid Centre Table by François Linke, the Mounts Designed by Léon Messagé. Linke Index No. 930. Signed 'Linke' to the upper bronze moulding. Stamped 'FL' to the reverse of the bronze mounts. Stamped to the carcass 'Made in France’. Of exhibition quality this magnificent table has a fine marquetry inlaid top and sumptuous gilt-bronze mounts, designed and sculpted by Léon Messagé. The shaped gilt-bronze mounted serpentine top is finely inlaid with scrolling bois de bout floral marquetry, above an undulating frieze set to the front with a long drawer and centred by a female mask, the sides are mounted with exuberant scallop-shell mounts and the angles with lively and emotive female espagnolettes emblematic of Modestie and Coquetterie; the table is raised on cabriole legs terminating in shell-capped scrolled sabots. A rare example in Linke’s oeuvre, the table is a variation of a larger example index number 930, described by Linke as modèle riche, which included an elaborate stretcher with banner-bearing cherubs based on Léon Messagé's celebrated sculptural group 'La Source' (illustrated C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.172, Pl. 186). Linke workshop's cliché of the larger modèle riche is illustrated in C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.483. The exceptional sculptural mounts are characteristic of the very finest 19th Century furniture created through François Linke and Léon Messagé’s collaboration. Messagé’s enhanced Louis XV Rococo style embraces the asymmetrical lines of designers such as J.A. Meissonnier, to create lively and emotive figures linked by sinuous encadrement, but cleverly modernised to reflect the surge of popularity of the Art Nouveau. The female busts, referred to by Linke as Coquetterie et Modestie, although reminiscent of the paintings of François Boucher and Flaconet have moved on in their design from the classical espagnolette, introduced by Charles Cressent in the 18th century, to become something new and vital. Designed for the celebrated 'Commode coquille: Coquetterie et Modestie' (index 559), presented at his award-winning stand at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p.142-144, pl. 151), Linke was obliged to purchase their design at a tremendous cost from Messagé. First castings began in 1897 and they proved fruitful for Linke, becoming a favourite mount, repurposed by Linke for use on a number of important designs. The larger version of the current table was intended to be displayed en suite with the commode but was not ready in time for the exhibition. It was first exhibited at the Salon des Industries du Mobilier in 1902, and again in Liège in 1905 (C. Payne, François Linke: The Belle Epoque of French Furniture, Woodbridge, 2003; p. 170-173). Available in three sizes, 132 cm x 72 cm, 138 x 75 cm and an even larger version (index no. 965) the design proved popular with Linke’s clientele, which included commissions supplied to Elias Meyer in 1909 (Illustrated C. Payne; p.243, pl. 258), Madame d’Astoreca in 1910, Antonio Devoto...

A fine pair of Napoléon III gilt and patinated bronze Louis XVI style three-Branch Wall Appliqués, After a Design by Pierre Gouthière. French, Circa 1880.

A Very Fine Pair of Napoleon III Style Pietre Dure Bookcases Attributed to Auguste-Hippolyte Sauvrezy (1815-1854). This exceptional pair of ebonised bookcases each have a moulded cornice above a pair of glazed doors set within finely cast gilt-bronze frames and enclosing three adjustable shelves, all above a frieze drawer and a pair of cupboards with moulded frames. The frieze beneath the cornice is inlaid with panels of Brèche Violette marble centred by a lozenge of Rouge Griotte. The uprights and frieze drawer of each bookcase are inlaid in Sarrancolin with cabochons of Lapis Lazuli; the frieze drawer centred by a lozenge of Verde Antico. Sauvrezy, specialised in ebonised furniture...

A large and finely cast neo-grec gilt and patinated bronze jardinière by Ferdinand Barbedienne. Signed 'F. BARBEDIENNE'. This rare Jardinière or ...

A fine Swedish Empire style gilt-bronze and cut-crystal tent and basket chandelier. Swedish, Circa 1825.

A fine Berlin (K.P.M.) porcelain plaque of A Vestal Virgin, after Angelica Kauffman, in a giltwood frame. Impressed sceptre mark, 'KPM', letter 'H', ...

A fine Napoleon III ormolu eight-light chandelier, after the Model by André-Charles Boulle. This well-cast Louis XIV style chandelier is after an important model attributed to And...

'Clementine', A Large Berlin (KPM) Porcelain Plaque After Conrad Kiesel. In a fine pierced giltwood and composition frame. Inscribed 'nach C. Kiesel'...

'Esther' A Fine Berlin (KPM) Porcelain Plaque, After Hering Levanon. In a carved giltwood and composition frame. Signed 'Wagner', impressed sceptre mark, KPM, letter C, numeral 3...

A large and important Louis XVI style carved giltwood clock and barometer set. Each with circular enamel dials, the clock with Roman and Arabic numerals and pierced scrolled hands. The companion barometer with indications for the weather and inscribed 'BAROMÈTRE / SELON TORRICELLI...

A large carved florentine giltwood mirror in the Baroque Revival Style. This impressive mirror has a rectangular bevelled glass plate set within a scrolling acanthus carved frame...

'Erblüth' a large and very fine Berlin (KPM) Porcelain plaque, after Angelo Asti. In a giltwood and composition shadow box frame. Signed 'Weigel', impr...

A magnificent and very rare Régence style marquetry inlaid grand bureau plat or writing desk. Inscribed to the carcass 'Moreaux 72'. Dating from the second half of the nineteenth century this magnificent and very rare bureau plat has finely cast rocaille gilt-bronze mounts and is decorated overall with truly breath-taking seventeenth century marquetry, depicting fantastical townscapes, knights, soldiers, hunting and architectural-scenes. Of serpentine rectangular form the top is veneered with superb marquetry panels within a foliate scrolled border and a rocaille shell-cast gilt-bronze surround, both sides featuring a recessed central drawer flanked on each side by a drawer applied with male and female terms, scrolled handles, and reserves with conforming drawers; the bombé sides are centred by foliate scrolls, and the whole raised on cabriole legs headed by cartouches with foliate entwined chutes terminating in scrolled sabots. Of impressive scale this fine bureau plat, in the manner of a partners desk, features working drawers to each side. This model of bureau plat was made by a small number of celebrated Parisian cabinet makers in the second half of the 19th century including Beurdeley, Cremer and Befort Jeune. It is incredibly rare to see this model of bureau plat inlaid in marquetry. The exceptional quality and style indicate the use of older reused marquetry, almost certainly dating from the late 17th century and originating from the Augsburg region of Germany. Similar models but lacking the exceptional marquetry inlay can be found in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Bowhill, and the Earl of Normanton at Somerlely. Christopher Payne notes that the latter was part of a pair sold by the London dealer Toms & Luscombe in 1871. He illustrates the present bureau plat in his book ‘European Furniture of the 19th Century’ (p. 88-89), along with two related desks minus the marquetry inlay (p. 92 -93). The exceptional and highly complex marquetry inlay and intarsia work, that sets this important bureau plat apart from other extant examples, would originally have formed the decorative panels of a late 17th century table cabinet, almost certainly ascribable to the Augsburg region of Germany. Augsburg emerged from the middle of the 16th century as the German centre of luxury cabinet making for the international market. In particular, the development of marquetry contributed to this prominent position, favoured by the ready availability of indigenous woods and the reputation that Augsburg had the best craftsmen able to cut thin layers of veneers in the most intricate motifs (C.S. Wood, ‘The Perspective Treatise in Ruins: Lorenz Stöer, Geometria et perspectiva, 1567’, Studies in the History of Art, no. 59, p. 246). Table cabinets, conceived as a form of Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities, were intended as repositories for all manner of wondrous and exotic objects and by the 1550s the grandest cabinets in Europe were being made in Augsburg. Decorated almost entirely with sumptuous marquetry, often depicting perspective views of ruins and fantastical townscapes, they become by the 1590s highly regarded as important diplomatic gifts. Fine Augsburg marquetry panels remained popular throughout the ages and were frequently re-used to create or embellish new items of furniture, such as this magnificent bureau plat. Their inclusion was not only for their highly decorative appeal, but to contemporary eyes, a means by which to imbue a new creation with a sense of true historical authenticity. The importance of such panels is often reflected in the high cost involved in repurposing them. A fine example of this is the celebrated 17th century cabinet on stand...

A large pair of acanthus carved giltwood stands. Each stand has a circular dished top above an acanthus carved base with trailing bell husks a...

A Large Rectangular Imari Porcelain Charger. Of rectangular form with scalloped edge this finely painted charger depicts a peacock perching on a branch of flowering peony within dia...

A pair of ‘Japonaise’ style silver plated and engraved glass decanters, in the Manner of Christofle. This charming pair of glass decanters are decorated in the 'Japonisme' style p...

A pair of Napoleon III gilt-bronze mounted, Marquetry Inlaid Secrétaires Abbatants, by Henry Dasson, After the Model by Jean-Francois Dubut. Stamped to the reverse of the bronze ...

A pair of petite Louis XVI Style gilt and patinated bronze chenets. Each modelled as a seated winged putto with outstretched arms raised on a pierced acanthus cast gilt-bronze st...

A finely carved pair of Renaissance Revival oak pedestals. Each pedestal features a finely carved lions mask to each side supporting wrought iron ring handles. Possibly Ameri...

A fine pair of carved giltwood and gesso mirrors with eagle crestings. Each mirror has a pierced oak leaf and eagle cresting above an arched mirro...

A fine Louis XIV style carved giltwood marginal frame mirror. This finely carved giltwood and gesso mirror has an oval mirror plate within a beaded surround, framed by finely etch...

A fine set of four Louis XIV style gilt-bronze wall appliques. Each applique having a backplate cast with palmettes and fronded acanthus and i...

A pair of patinated bronze vases cast after the antique. Each vase is of krater form with elaborate scrolling volute handles with swan heads a...

A fine empire revival gilt-bronze mounted mahogany fauteuil. This elegant armchair has a scrolled mahogany frame with a padded upholstered back and seat, the arms put down on fine...

An unusual gilt-bronze and spiral moulded glass lantern, attributed to François Linke. This striking lantern has a scrolling acanthus cast crown above a central stem and a pierced frame and collar supporting a spirally fluted moulded glass baluster form shade and terminating in an acanthus cast finial. The interior fitted with two lights. French, Circa 1900. François Linke (1855 - 1946) was the most important Parisian cabinet...

A fine pair of empire gilt and patinated bronze ewers in the manner of Claude Galle. French, Circa 1820.

A fine Vernis Martin gilt-bronze mounted side cabinet with a marble top, by Joseph-Emmanuel Zwiener. Stamped to the carcass beneath the marble top 'E. ZWIENER'. This model of ...

A fine Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and moulded-glass twenty-light chandelier by La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat. Stamped to the central stem 'Baccarat'. Moulded 'Bacc...

A large and exceptional Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and white marble figural mantel clock, by Grohé Frères, Paris. The dial signed ‘Grohé, A Paris'. ...

A fine pair of Japanese Satsuma vases raised on gilt-bronze bases. Each vase with an elongated trumpet shaped neck and tapering cylindrical b...

A fine pair of patinated bronze figures of River Nymphs, After Jean Goujon. These charming figures are inspired by the nymphs on the monumental ‘Fontai...

A fine pair of neoclassical style gilt and patinated bronze nine-light candelabra by Ferdinand Barbedienne, French, Circa 1870.

A fine Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and cut-glass eight-light chandelier, French, Circa 1900.

A fine Louis XV style gilt-bronze and cut-crystal twenty-light chandelier by La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, French, Circa 1890.

A fine 19th Century Brienz Black Forest hand-carved bear hall stand. This charming hall stand is naturalistically carved in Linden wood and depicts ...

A pair of Victorian silver-plated and cut-glass vases by Joseph Rodgers & Sons. With marks for Joseph Rodgers & Son. Sheffield. ...

A fine pair of Regence style gilt-bronze figural four-light candelabra. Stamped to the underside 'JB'. Each candelabra has a tripartite base with putti figures supporting a cen...

A Neo-Grec gilt and patinated bronze Tazza, designed by Ferdinand Levillain and cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne. Marked 'F. Levillain' to the decoration and stamped 'F. Barbedienne' to the underside. This rare tazza is a fine example of the collaboration between the gifted designer Ferdinand Levillain and the highly acclaimed bronzier Ferdinand Barbedienne. It is decorated with a bas-relief in the 'Neo-Grec' or ‘Pompeian’ style with classical figures herding animals...

A fine Louis XVI style gilt-bronze mounted and parquetry inlaid centre table, by François Linke. Signed 'F. Linke' to the bronze rim. Stamped 'FL' to the reverse of the bronze mo...

A fine Louis XVI style gilt-bronze mounted baby grand Piano by Gaveau à Paris. Serial number 67874. This fine baby grand piano has a quarter-veneered top with a stiff leaf cas...

An important gilt-bronze mounted parquetry inlaid piano a queue, by François Linke, the Movement by Erard.  Signed 'F.Linke' on the keyboard cover mold...

A fine set of fourteen gilt bronze mounted mahogany dining chairs attributed to Jeanselme. The floral tapestry to the back of each chair is in superb condition, of good design and with fine colors; two chairs retain their original tapestry upholstery...

A fine KPM porcelain plaque depicting a scene from Shakespeare's Play Othello, after the painting by Carl Ludwig Friedrich Becker, (German, 1820-1900).  Signed ‘R. Wagner’. Impressed mark to the reverse ‘KPM’ (Konigliche Porzellan...

A fine pair of Vienna style covered cylindrical vases, on square footed socle bases. The vases are decorated with classical scenes including Jupiter an...

An unusual Charles X crystal and gilt-bronze spirit or perfume dispenser, in the shape of a barrel with swan head taps, French, circa 1830.

A pair of bronze and Belge Noir marble porte-torchères in the manner of Barbedienne. French, circa 1870.

A pair of Charles II style, enamel brass and cast iron armorial firedogs, in the manner of Anthony Hatch and Stephen Pilcherd. Each firedog is decorated with red, blue and white enamel, the upperpart bearing the arms of Charles II or James II, the middle part formed of two nude male figures supporting the arms with a vase of flowers between them, the lower portions in the form of two convex disks decorated with flowers, with wrought iron supports. They are modelled after an example in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, formerly belonging to the Earl of Cowley. For a long time, their method of production -whereby the fields to be enameled were cast in the original moulds and not, as was more common, engraved (champlévé) or enclosed (cloisonné) - was referred to as Surrey Enamels after the author Charles R. Beard ascribed their manufacture to a factory in Esher, Surrey. However, documentary evidence makes a strong case for their reattribution to the London workshops of Anthony Hatch and Stephen Pilcherd, members of the Armourers' and Braziers' Company (see C. Blair and A. Petterson, 'Details for Surrey Enamels Reattributed (Part 1)', Journal of the Antique Metalware...