Pair Antique French Louis XVI Gold & Patinated Bronze Animal Andirons Circa 1870

Bronze andirons

Pair antique French Ormolu "Chenets" with patinated bronze figures, Circa 1860.

Pair Antique French Louis XVI Bronze D'oré and Cobalt Chenets, Circa 1880-1890.

Antique French gold bronze and patinated bronze Lion & Serpent Andirons, Circa 1860.

An adorable true pair of French 19th century Louis XVI st. Ormolu and patinated Bronze andirons, after a model by Caffieri and signed H. Vian. Each high quality andiron is raised by four topie shaped legs decorated with draping acanthus leaves. The Ormolu support above is decorated with concave sides and a pierced interlocking wrapped around foliate band. Atop the support is the Ormolu dog bed with tassels on each corner and scrolled designs along the edge. Standing on the bed are charming patinated Bronze dogs, one with their paw lifted and both displaying wonderful expressions. Henry Vian (1860-1905) was a celebrated bronzier who specialized in the production of bronzes in the eighteenth century style, particularly light fittings, cases with bronze mounts and chandeliers of great quality. He participated in the Great Exhibition of 1878, 1889 and 1900 and received a Gold Medal in 1889. His workshop was based at 5 rue de Thorigny in Paris. His wife and son ran the business after his death in 1905 until 1944, when the city of Paris took over the premises for the Ecole des Métiers d'Art. Philippe Caffiéri...

A fine pair of French 19th century Louis XV style figural gilt bronze and silver plated bronze chenets, each surmounted by a triton blowing a seashell Horn, resting on a pierced roca...

A fabulous pair of French 19th century chenets (andirons) featuring greyhounds cast in patinated bronze atop ormolu bases. The greyhounds are delicately sculpted to peer at each othe...

Each with a recumbent winged sphinx with scrolling foliate arabesques to their back, upon a bow-ended rectangular gadrooned plinth, the frieze with a panel applied with entrelacs, on fluted toupie feet. Several models of chenets with sphinx exist, dating from the 1780s. An example with winged sphinxes with headresses and with female mask centering the frieze, attributed to either Pierre Gouthière or Pierre-Philippe Thomire, exists in several versions in the Louvre, Versailles and the Cleveland Museum of Art (see H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.I, p.276, fig. 4.11.14.). This model is based on a drawing by the architect François-Joseph Bélanger in the Bibliothèque Nationale, illustrated op. cit., fig. 4.11.13. Another type of sphinx chenet...