Lot Essay
Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, maître in 1735.
The bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (d.1791) is most celebrated for his Rococo mounts, for which he himself provided the designs. As he ceased signing his work in 1766, these 'goût grec' chenets are early examples of Louis XV Neo-classicism. With their laurel-festooned and thyrsus-finialed urns with Bacchic lion-masks, they relate to chenet-patterns executed by Jean-Louis Prieur, maître fondeur en terre et sable, such as the stylised roundel feet, which feature on the Prieur design illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p.199, fig. 3.14.7.
The bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (d.1791) is most celebrated for his Rococo mounts, for which he himself provided the designs. As he ceased signing his work in 1766, these 'goût grec' chenets are early examples of Louis XV Neo-classicism. With their laurel-festooned and thyrsus-finialed urns with Bacchic lion-masks, they relate to chenet-patterns executed by Jean-Louis Prieur, maître fondeur en terre et sable, such as the stylised roundel feet, which feature on the Prieur design illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p.199, fig. 3.14.7.