A Patinated Canister by the Barbedienne Foundry of Paris

Houdin’s expressive yet classically poised bust of the 17th-century French playwright, originally in marble, has been finely cast and worked by the the Parisian bronze foundry Barbed...

A 19th-century patinated bronze figure of the Berlin Adorante, or Praying Boy. The piece is a reduction of the Hellenistic-era original, currently in t...

A bronze figure representing Demosthenes (384-322 BC), a Greek statesman and orator. The sculpture is based on a Roman copy of an original Greek statue. The chocolate-brown patina of...

After the Hellenistic original, apparently by the sculptor Boethus, a marble variant of which can be found in the Louvre. This sculpture, along with the Dying Gaul and the Scythian K...

Signed “Kley,” after Louis Kley, a French sculptor (1833-1911). Stamped with the circular “Collas” stamp indicating that the reduction of this cast from the original was performed ac...

The Roman Emperor Hadrian became acquainted with the beautiful youth named Antinous in Anatolia. The young man’s beauty inspired innumerable pieces of sculpture, but ultimately his f...

The cup or mug described is a beautiful piece by Ferdinand Barbedienne, a renowned French bronze sculptor and foundryman who lived between 1810 and 1892. Created around 1860 and know...

This beautiful 19th century grand-tour piece of the goddess Atalanta was created by the Ferdinand Barbedienne foundry in Italy. The piece is hallmarked with F. Bernedienne Fondeur on...

A glass and ormolu vase by the Barbedienne foundry, the flared glass beaker decorated with bands of acid etched stylized floral motifs and lanceolate leaves, the bronze holder with a...

Bronze oriental male figural torchère with bronze base and gilt patina. This figure exhibited at the Salon from 1850-51. In 1855 it appeared in the A.Collas and Barbedienne society c...

Jean-Baptiste Auguste Clesinger, French Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ, Barbedienne 1858 An exceptional French patinated realistic miniature bronze b...

Pair of very elegant classicist candlesticks in fine patinated bronze, signed BARBEDIENNE. The execution of the casting is extremely finely worked with delicate leaves on the outer wall of the candlestick, with a head of antiquity on the upper part of the stem which flows into the lower part with fluting and side volutes. The 3 curved legs stand on raised feet with delicate strappy sandals. Measures: The diameter at the top is 3.5cm and at the bottom 13.5cm Ferdinand Barbedienne (* August 6, 1810 in Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay, Calvados department, France; † March 21, 1892 in Paris) was a French sculptor, bronze ware manufacturer, and gallery owner. One of the most important and popular Éditeurs d'art, or publishers of art articles, he had most of the French sculptors of his time under contract. Life and work Ferdinand Barbedienne was the son of a farmer. At the age of 13, he learned the Craft of saddlery. In 1822 he moved to Paris, where he first worked as a clerk in a wallpaper shop. He received start-up capital from his employer to open his own store, which he set up on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in 1834. He pursued the idea of exhibiting bronze statues in addition to his core business and mass producing them in small format. In 1838, he joined forces with the mechanic Achille Collas, who had developed the machine á reduction (réducteur for short); a device based on the principles of the pantograph that could reproduce three-dimensional objects in any size - reduced or enlarged. On November 29, 1838, both signed the founding contract for the company Société Ferdinand Barbedienne et Achille Collas, which aimed to commercially exploit the mechanized production of sculptural works for an initial 20 years. Barbedienne took care of the commercial management of the company, while Collas contributed the patent on his invention and seven existing machines, and with his profound knowledge of machinery was responsible for the production processes. Together they decided on the subject matter of the objects, the selling prices, and all other financial matters. In 1841, they produced casts of the Apollo of Belvedere, the Spinario, and 21 pieces with the motif of a bas-relief of the Parthenon. These were followed by versions of the Laocoon group, the Venus of Arles, and the Borghese Fencer, among others. Special interest was initially shown in works from antiquity, for which casts from the Atelier de Moulage in the Louvre served as models. The company continued to produce works by representatives of the Renaissance such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Giovanni Bologna or by French sculptors such as Jean Goujon, Jean-François Flamand, Pierre Puget, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox...