The « Nymphs » Bowl by A-E Carrier-Belleuse and H. Journet & Cie, France, c 1878

Bearing the mark Royal Dux and numbered 1252 Large enamelled porcelain centerpiece with golden highlights, representing a nymph sitting on a shell like a ship sailing on the waves, ...

Beautiful ovoid-shaped covered vase in patinated bronze with golden highlights, with rich rotating decoration in relief. The lid, symbolizing Night, is decorated with a turtle, a moon, a dragon flying among the clouds ; and the belly, symbolizing the Day, is decorated with a rising sun, mountainous landscapes, and cherry tree branches. The whole, topped with a flamed seed, is supported by three African-type atlantes dressed in a loincloth. Historical and artistic context This work of art combines elements of Japonism and Orientalism, two important movements representative of the taste of the time for exoticism. Indeed, this taste for Chinoiserie was revived at the end of the 19th century following the Franco-English military campaign against the imperial army in China in 1860. Napoleon III’s French troops bring back part of the treasure from the Summer Palace, constituting in 1863 the famous Chinese Museum of Empress Eugénie at the Palace of Fontainebleau. First in painting, the movement quickly spread to decorative arts and furniture. This craze for the Far East is encouraged in France by the diffusion of Chinese ornamental works renewing the interior decoration of the luxurious Parisian residences of a clientele eager for something new. It was also under the Second Empire that the Orientalists were propelled to the forefront. Emperor Napoleon III, aristocrats as well as wealthy bourgeois in search of exoticism fill the order books of the most renowned artists. It is then not the predominantly academic style of the Orientalists that counts but above all the exoticism that they show to a fascinated public. Biography Alphonse Giroux and Company, famous curiosity and luxury goods shop was situated in Paris, at No. 7 rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré and in business from the time of the Consulate until the end of the Second Empire. The company was founded by Francois-Simon-Alphonse and continued in 1838 by his two sons, Alphonse-Gustave (1810-1886) and André (1801-1879). The father became a close associate of the royal family and specialized in the manufacture of refined items for gifts. Kings Louis XVIII and then Charles X were both supplied with gifts for « The Children of France » by Giroux. Making progressively small furniture, they were mentionned for the first time in 1837 in the class « cabinet...

Exceptional centerpiece in silvered and gilded bronze, composed of a naiad riding a dolphin, supporting a chiseled shell decorated with reeds, adorned with the head of a river god on its bow and on which a winged love blows in a conch. The whole rests on a pedestal decorated with dolphin heads and cut-out leathers, ending with a porphyry base with molded steps. Historical and artistic context Centers and naves of tables are attested in France from the Middle Ages in order to present spices and other condiments brought from distant lands around the Mediterranean or from the trade of the Silk Roads. The importance of their presence on prestigious tables will be confirmed throughout the decorative arts, evolving during the 19th century in centerpieces, becoming a central element of decoration. Here we find a true virtuosity in the composition and representation of the human figure which is reminiscent of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance. Indeed, the fluidity of the lines of the naiad can be compared to the nymph of Fontainebleau by Benvenuto Cellini preserved at the Louvre museum and dated 1545, while the naturalist representation of the marine setting refers to the work of Wenzel Jamnitzer...

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