19th Century French Pair of Celeste Blue Ground Sèvres Porcelain Vases

Pair of polychromed hand painted porcelain with Japonisme floral decoration Ormolu-mounted with open-worked base and rim Louis XVI Style circa 1880.

A 19th French century pair of Lacquered Bamboos Japonisme vases. An amazing pair of tall cylindrical bamboo vases decorated in Japanese Gold and Sil-ver Hiramaki-E Lacquer with Pavilions in The Mist and Weaving Figures, Flown Over by a Pair of Cranes. Enclosed in a Sino-Japanese Inspiration Golden and Brown Patina Bronze Mount Featuring Elephant Heads, Partially Openwork Branches and Salamanders Forming Side Handles. Circa 1870 Attributed to Édouard Lièvre (1828-1886) and Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) Édouard Lièvre (1828-1886) is one of the most talented and prolific designer and industrialist of the 19th Century, his repertoire is sometimes Sino-Japanese or Neo-Renaissance, whether in furniture or works of art, we can note in particular the parade bed of Valtesse de La Bigne, furniture commissioned by the painter Édouard Detaille or even Sarah Bernhardt, and the famous works in collaboration with Maison Christofle or those in gilded bronze and cloisonné enamel edited by Ferdinand Barbedienne, presented at the Universal Exhibitions in 1878, 1889 and 1900. He was both a draftsman, painter, illustrator, engraver, ornamentalist and cabinetmaker, first trained in the studio of the painter Thomas Couture, Lièvre was then fully immersed in the world of decoration, creation and ornamentation and provides designs for manufacturers and merchant-publishers. Often assisted by his brother Justin, he first produced works of art for his own apartment, seeking out the finest craftsmen to execute his designs for bronzes, ceramics, fabrics and luxury furniture from great virtuosity and great taste. He then collaborated with the cabinet-maker Paul Sormani, as well as haberdasher merchants such as the Escalier de Cristal, bronziers such as Maison Marnyhac and especially Ferdinand Barbedienne as on our vases with bronze mounts characteristics of Edouard Lièvre's work. Born in 1810, died in Paris in 1892, Ferdinand Barbedienne, the most important caster of bronze pieces of art during the second half of the 19th Century, created and directed in Par-is one of the major artistic foundries of his time. Barbedienne specialized in classical reproductions, whose models were exposed in famous European museums. Their illustrated catalogues included many diverse objects such as busts, ornemental sculpture (clocks, candelabras, cups) sometimes even life-sized and bronzes for furniture. Apart from his own produc-tion, Barbedienne worked for the most renowned sculptors such as Barrias, Clésinger and Carrier-Belleuse. All his works were highly esteemed and he, himself honored by contemporary critics. At the London exhibition in 1851 Barbedienne’s firm won two « Council medals ». At the 1855 Universal Exhibition, he won a medal of honor. The success of Barbedienne’s firm brought him many official commissions, such in about 1860, as Barbedienne supplied bronzes for furniture for the Pompeian Villa of Prince Napoléon-Joseph, located avenue Montaigne in Paris. At the London Universal Exhibition of 1862 Barbedienne won medals in three different categories: Furniture, Silversmith work and Artistic bronzes. Barbedienne was made an officer of the Légion d’Honneur in 1867 and Commander in 1878 when he was compared with « a prince of industry and the king of bronze casting ». His glory did not decline with the passage of the time for at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 the critics thanked Barbedienne for the example he set for other bronze-casters by the perfection of his bronzes. “Japonisme” in the second half of the 19th century, was a craze for everything that came from Japan or imitated its style. The word was first coined in a series of articles published by Philippe Burty, from May 1872 to February 1873, in the French magazine “la Renaissance Littéraire et Artistique”. Far from the Academic sphere, artists seeking for new ways of expression, appropriated this discovery. Manet and the impressionists led the way to half a century of enthusiasm for Japanese art, and largely contributed to the esthetical revolution Europe experienced between 1860 and the beginning of the twentieth century. From 1862, The World’s Fairs provoked massive arrivals of fans, kimonos, lacquers, bronzes, silks, prints and books that launched the real era of Japonisme. With those exhibitions, the demand was boosted, the number of merchants and collectors was multiplied, and artists became passionate about this new esthetic. For them, its “primitivism” was probably its most important quality: artists were fond of the Japanese art’s capacity to be close to nature and to reconcile art and society by representing, with a lot of care, the most trivial objects. In painting, Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Degas, Van Gogh, Gauguin were among those who were deeply inspired by Japanese art, affected by the lack of perspective and shadow, the flat areas of strong color, the compositional freedom in placing the subject off-center, with mostly low diagonal axes to the background. The Japanese iris, peonies, bamboos, kimonos, calligraphy, fish, butterflies and other insects, the blackbirds, cranes and wading birds, the cats, tigers, and dragons were endless sources of inspiration, appropriation, and reinterpretation for European artists. The occidental productions were combining styles and artistic conceptions instead of copying Japanese art slavishly. That is what brings to light the comparison between the artworks of Kitagawa Utamaro and Degas, of Katsushika Hokusai and Van Gogh The World’s Fairs of 1851 and 1862 in London, those of 1867, 1878, 1889 and 1900 in Paris, of 1873 in Vienna and of 1904 in Saint Louis presented a number of “Japanese-Chinese” installations with earthenware, bronzes, screens and paintings and attracted the largest amounts of visitors In Vienna, the “Japanese village...

Pair of large Japanese Porcelain Cone Shape Vases with Imari decoration Important mounts in ormolu and gilded metal, the base decorated with a laurel wreath, the upper part of falling leaves and a frieze of knotted ribbon. The mounts signed Gagneau, 115 R. Lafayette. Circa 1860 With their original aluminium bulb cover and original gilding Vase it self Height 47 cm The Gagneau Company is one of the most famous lighting factories in Paris in the nine-teenth century, established in 1800 at 25 rue d'Enghien in Paris and later at 115 rue de Lafayette. She has participated in many exhibitions throughout this century. She began in 1819 with the Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie and later participated in the Universal Exhibitions where she was part of the jury in the category of art bronzes (class 25) at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889. "Imari" was simply the trans-shipment port for Arita wares, from where they went to the for-eign trading outposts at Nagasaki. It was the kilns at Arita which formed the heart of the Japanese porcelain industry. Arita's kilns were set up in the 17th century, after kaolin was discovered in 1616. A popular legend attributes the discovery to an immigrant Korean potter, Yi Sam-Pyeong (1579–1655), although most historians consider this doubtful. After the discovery, some kilns began to produce revised Korean-style blue and white porcelains, known as Early Imari, or "Shoki-Imari". In the mid-17th century, there were also many Chinese refugees in northern Kyushu due to the turmoil in China, and it is said that one of them brought the overglaze enamel coloring technique to Arita. Thus Shoki-Imari developed into Ko-Kutani, Imari, and later Kakiemon, which are sometimes taken as a wider group of Imari wares. Ko-Kutani was produced around 1650 for both export and domestic market.Kutani Ware is characterized by vivid green, blue, purple, yellow and red colors in bold designs of landscapes and nature. Blue and white porcelain pieces continued to be produced and they are called Ai-Kutani. Ko-Kutani Imari for the export market usually adopted Chinese design structure such as kraak style, whereas Ai-Kutani for the domestic market were highly unique in design and are ac-cordingly valued very much among collectors. Ko-Kutani style evolved into Kakiemon-style Imari, which was produced for about 50 years around 1700. Kakiemon was characterized by crisp lines, and bright blue, red and green designs of dramatically stylized floral and bird scenes. Imari achieved its technical and aes-thetic peak in the Kakiemon style, and it dominated the European market. Blue and white Kakiemon is called Ai-Kakiemon. The Kakiemon style transformed into Kinrande in the 18th century, using underglaze blue and overglaze red and gold enamels, and later additional colors. Imari began to be exported to Europe when the Chinese kilns at Jingdezhen were damaged in the political chaos and the new Qing dynasty government halted trade in 1656–1684. Ex-ports to Europe were made through the Dutch East India Company, and in Europe the des-ignation "Imari porcelain" connotes Arita wares of mostly Kinrande Imari. Export of Imari to Europe stopped in mid-18th century when China resumed export to Eu-rope, since Imari was not able to compete against Chinese products due to high labor costs. By that time, however, both Imari and Kakiemon styles were already so popular among Eu-ropeans that the Chinese export porcelain copied both, a type known as Chinese Imari. At the same time, European kilns, such as Meissen and English potteries such as Johnson Bros. and (Royal) Crown Derby, also imitated the Imari and Kakiemon styles. Export of Imari surged again in late 19th century (Meiji era) when Japonism flourished in Europe.Thus, in the western world today, two kinds of true Japanese Imari can...

A French 19th century perfume or pot pourri vase A hand-painted polychromed enamel on copper Chinese Export bowl designed with flowers and rince...

An impressive French 19th century Neo-Greek style bronze nine-lights center piece In patinated and gilt bronze, engraved on the body of foliage and rings, the collar decorated with a frieze of palms in bas-relief. It is held by a tripod base decorated with shards, foliage, and fins, in the center a mask of man. Surmounted by three arms, nine-lights ending in lion’s paw. Curved triangular base with ivy friezes, and palm-leaf feet. Attributed to Georges Emile Henri...

Very Fine French 19th Century Pair of Candlesticks In ormolu, very finely chiseled and decorated with knotted garlands, branches of leafy flowers, spokes of hearts, leaves of water...

A monumental and rare pair of 19th century French dore bronze mounted Sèvres Celeste blue porcelain cachepots. These cache pots are extremely rare to fi...

A good quality pair of late 19th century French Sevres style porcelain vases, each with classical gilded ormolu mask handles to either si...

A good quality pair of French 'Sèvres' style porcelain lidded vases. Each having female figures with cherubs flying around them. The panels set in dark blue ground with gilded highli...

The dark blue background of the porcelain vases stand on a gilded carved octagonal pedestal. The base is decorated with gilt scrolls of acanthus leaves and foliage. The front center ...

A very good quality pair of French classical late 19th Century Sevres style porcelain, ormolu mounted vases. Each with turquoise ground, inset hand painted panels depicting romantic scenes and floral scenes to the reverse. Gilded ormolu Rams head...

A fine quality pair of 19th century French 'Sevres' style vases, having gilded ormolu mounts, a twisted, fluted, ribbed form with turquoise border and floral decoration. We can arra...