.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Lots 99 and 100 are two of four large stone urns that were executed for the Grand Hall of the Htel Ducharne, Paris. Variously carved with decoration that centered on an aquatic theme, one of the four urns was destroyed by frost, while another urn was sold at Sotheby's London on March 20, 1988.
The present urns have descended in the Ducharne Family. According to family history, the urns were executed by the sculptor Gaston Le Bourgeois, who additionally realized Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann's design of a daybed, 1927, for the Htel Ducharne (see Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, 1983, p. 265). Le Bourgeois produced both the daybed and the urns in comblanchien, a marble stone, and embellished them with carved whimsical imagery of cocoons and aquatic life respectively.
Le Bourgeois, primarily an animalier sculptor, specialized in wood carving. He also carved wood panels in bas-relief for inclusion in decorative schemes and in furniture designed by some of the leading Art Deco designers. He too exhibited at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Dcoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
Ruhlmann created an exquisite interior for the house of the fur merchant Franois Ducharne, a prominent figure in the world of Haute Couture and a passionate collector of modern art and sculpture. Located in Auteuil, an exclusive area of Paris, the house was designed by Pierre Patout in the style of a Htel Particulier, a showcase for Franois Ducharne's fine assemblage of art. Ruhlmann created a very elegant and exclusive interior with some whimsical reminders of his patron's trade.
cf. Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, 1983, p. 142 for a contemporary photograph of the Grand Hall of the Htel Ducharne that depicts one of the four urns positioned on the desk.
The present urns have descended in the Ducharne Family. According to family history, the urns were executed by the sculptor Gaston Le Bourgeois, who additionally realized Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann's design of a daybed, 1927, for the Htel Ducharne (see Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, 1983, p. 265). Le Bourgeois produced both the daybed and the urns in comblanchien, a marble stone, and embellished them with carved whimsical imagery of cocoons and aquatic life respectively.
Le Bourgeois, primarily an animalier sculptor, specialized in wood carving. He also carved wood panels in bas-relief for inclusion in decorative schemes and in furniture designed by some of the leading Art Deco designers. He too exhibited at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Dcoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
Ruhlmann created an exquisite interior for the house of the fur merchant Franois Ducharne, a prominent figure in the world of Haute Couture and a passionate collector of modern art and sculpture. Located in Auteuil, an exclusive area of Paris, the house was designed by Pierre Patout in the style of a Htel Particulier, a showcase for Franois Ducharne's fine assemblage of art. Ruhlmann created a very elegant and exclusive interior with some whimsical reminders of his patron's trade.
cf. Florence Camard, Ruhlmann, 1983, p. 142 for a contemporary photograph of the Grand Hall of the Htel Ducharne that depicts one of the four urns positioned on the desk.