Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 22

Antique Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Mounted Dressing Table & Mirror 19th Century

$4,403.29
£3,250
€3,802.83
CA$6,065.82
A$6,793.33
CHF 3,544.65
MX$82,977.62
NOK 45,098.25
SEK 42,510.50
DKK 28,380.03

About the Item

This is a beautiful antique French bois de Violette, ormolu and Sevres porcelain mounted dressing table circa 1860 in date. It has been masterfully crafted from beautiful Bois de Violette highlighted with decorative ormolu banding and ormolu mounted Sevres porcelain plaques that have been hand painted with exotic birds. The dressing table features a shaped mirror with a pair of petite drawers to the top and a single drawer to the frieze and it is raised on four elegant cabriole legs. Add a elegant touch to your home with this exceptional piece of antique French furniture. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 147 x Width 78 x Depth 54 Dimensions in inches: Height 4 foot, 10 inches x Width 2 foot, 7 inches x Depth 1 foot, 9 inches Bois de Violette is a classic furniture wood, almost exclusively used for inlays on very fine furniture. Occasionally it is used in the solid for small items and turned work, including parts of billiard cues, e.g., those made by John Parris. It is brownish-purple with many fine darker stripes and occasional irregular swirls. Occasionally it contains pale streaks of a similar colour to sapwood. The wood is very dense and hard and can be brought to a spectacular finish. it turns well but due to its density and hardness can be difficult to work with hand tools. It also has a tendency to blunt the tools due to its abrasive properties. Sevres Porcelain traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738. French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles. From the outset the king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed. The Sevres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contributed to the difficulties. Only a limited number of European nobility could afford the extravagant prices demanded for such works. King Louis XV and eventually his heir, the ill-fated Louis XVI, were obliged to invest heavily in the enterprise. Ultimately, the Sevres Porcelain Factory produced items under the name of "Royal" and thus the well-known Sevres mark was born. King Louis XV even mandated laws that severely restricted other porcelain production in France so as to retain a near monopoly for his Sevres Porcelain. The king even willingly became chief salesman for the finest of his products, hosting an annual New Year's Day showing for French nobility in his private quarters at Versailles. He eagerly circulated among potential buyers, pitching the merits of ownership and policing the occasional light-fingered guest. Sevres Porcelain may have indeed given the makers of Meissen and Dresden a run for their money by the end of the 18th Century but for the French Revolution. By 1800, the Sevres Porcelain Works were practically out of business due to the economic devastation of the new French Republic. About the time when Napoleon Bonaparte named himself Emperor of France (1804), a new director was named for the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. Alexandre Brongniart, highly educated in many fields, resurrected Sevres Porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain was eliminated altogether thanks to the earlier discovery of kaolin near Limoges. For four decades until his death, Brongniart presided over monumental progress for Sevres Porcelain, catering not only to Napoleon himself, but at last to include the more financially profitable mid-priced market in the emerging middle class. Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. Our reference: A3453
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 57.88 in (147 cm)Width: 30.71 in (78 cm)Depth: 21.26 in (54 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
    Ormolu,Porcelain
  • Period:
    1860-1869
  • Date of Manufacture:
    Circa 1860
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: A34531stDibs: LU950636010052

More From This Seller

View All
Vintage Ormolu & Porcelain Mounted Console Table & Mirror 20th Century
Located in London, GB
This is an elegant Louis Revival console table and mirror by the renowned cabinet maker H & L Epstein, dating from mid 20th century. These magnificent pieces are crafted from wood with stunnning ormolu mounts and the console features ten Sevres style small porcelain plaques depicting courting couples with a larger circular embossed ormolu plaque to the center and this is surmounted with a beautiful cream veined Gris St Anne marble shaped top. It is raised on elegant reeded tapering legs that terminate in ormolu toupie feet. The console comes with a matching wall mirror, applied with twenty four Sevres style porcelain plaques with ormolu surrounds and beading to edges. It features applied ormolu Rococo style finials to the crest and base. Add a touch of unparalleled elegant style to your home. Condition: Inreally excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 80 x Width 98 x Depth 35 - Console Table Height 88 x Width 53 x Depth 10 - Mirror Dimensions in inches: Height 2 foot, 7 inches x Width 3 foot, 3 inches x Depth 1 foot, 2 inches - Console Table Height 2 foot, 11 inches x Width 1 foot, 9 inches x Depth 4 inches - Mirror Epstein furniture was originally founded in East London by Polish immigrants in the 1890s. The firm passed to brothers Harry and Lou Epstein and the pair turned their attention to the production of Art Deco forms from the 1930s until the 1950s. Finished to high standards, most pieces were custom-made in veneers of burr maple, sycamore or walnut. The design of the famous ‘cloud’ seat...
Category

Vintage 1950s Console Tables

Materials

Marble, Ormolu

Antique Late Victorian Mahogany Dressing Table & Mirror 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is a totally fabulous Antique Late Victorian Sheraton Revival Mahogany and Marquetry dressing table, circa 1890 in date. It features a shield shaped mirror framed on each side...
Category

Antique 1890s English Victorian Tables

Materials

Mahogany

Antique Petite French Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is an fine and beautiful petite French Louis XV Revival goncalo alves and ormolu mounted bureau plat, circa 1850 in date. This fantastic bureau plat features an ornate serpentin...
Category

Antique 1850s French Louis XVI Desks and Writing Tables

Materials

Wood

Antique French Trumeau Mirror with Matching Console Table 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is an monumental fine and elegant French Louis XVIII carved giltwood console table with matching Trumeau mirror, circa 1820 in date. The beautifully carved giltwood marble topp...
Category

Antique 1820s French Console Tables

Materials

Marble

Antique Louis Revival Ormolu Mounted Bureau Plat Desk 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is a gorgeous antique French Louis Revival gilt bronze mounted amaranth bureau plat, Circa 1860 in date. The shaped top has a decorative gilt ...
Category

Antique 1860s French Desks and Writing Tables

Materials

Ormolu

Antique French Ormolu Mounted Marquetry Bureau Plat 19th Century
Located in London, GB
This is a fabulous French antique ormolu mounted bureau plat which features fine quality floral marquetry and which dates from around 1860. This beautiful piece of furniture has been made with artistic marquetry requiring the highest level of craftsmanship. The surface of the table top of this antique ormolu mounted bureau plat features very intricate floral marquetry decoration. Using a number of different and exotic veneers which include walnut, goncalo alves, satinwood, burr walnut, and purpleheart, the level of detail present here can only be described as extraordinary. The central panel is worthy of particular attention, it being inlaid with a representation of an urn on a flower filled satinwood background together with a decorative border of foliage which has been rendered in mahogany and burr walnut. As you can see from the images provided the imposing table top is completed with a highly decorative ormolu border which adds an additional level of elegance to this antique bureau plat...
Category

Antique 1860s French Desks and Writing Tables

Materials

Ormolu

You May Also Like

Antique French Louis XV Vanity Table with Gilt Bronze Mounts/Porcelain Cameos
Located in Houston, TX
Exceptional French vanity table with gilt bronze mounts and inlaid porcelain plates in the Sevres style having a ground of celeste blue. Painted w...
Category

Antique 1890s French Louis XVI Vanities

Materials

Walnut

French Ormolu-Mounted Kingwood and Parquetry Vanity Dressing Table
Located in Doylestown, PA
French Louis XV style ormolu-mounted kingwood and satinwood parquetry dressing table or coiffeuse, late 19th century. Incredibly luxurious petite dressing table...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XV Vanities

Materials

Ormolu

Beautiful Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze and Sevres Style Dressing Table
Located in Long Island City, NY
A Beautiful Late 19th Century Gilt Bronze Mounted Louis XVI Sèvres Style Dressing Table This wonderful and rare table is mounted by over twenty three individual porcelain plaques de...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century French Belle Époque Dressers

Materials

Bronze, Ormolu

Antique Ormolu Mounted Dressing Table by Zwiener Jansen Successer
By Zwiener Jansen Successeur
Located in London, GB
Antique ormolu mounted dressing table by Zwiener Jansen Successeur French, c. 1900 Height 153cm, width 134cm, depth 63cm Superbly crafted by the renowned French firm Zwiener Jans...
Category

Early 20th Century French Louis XVI Tables

Materials

Ormolu

French 19th Century 1st Empire Period Ormolu, Mahogany and Marble Vanity Table
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A handsome and most impressive French 19th century 1st Empire period ormolu, flamed mahogany, and Portoro marble mirrored vanity table. The vanity is raised by its original casters b...
Category

Antique 19th Century French Vanities

Materials

Marble, Ormolu

19th Century French Louis XVI Style Ormolu & Tulipwood Dressing Table by Sormani
By Paul Sormani
Located in London, GB
An Elegant Ormolu-Mounted Tulipwood Dressing Table In the Louis XV Style Attributed to Paul Sormani A superb example of late 19th century 'mobilier de luxe,' this tulipwood-veneere...
Category

Antique 19th Century French Louis XVI Vanities

Materials

Ormolu