Lot Essay
The pedestal-supported sacred-urns are designed in the Louis XIV antique manner. Their sarcophagus-scrolled and bacchic lion-footed pedestals are embellished with laurel-festooned medallions of nymphs and satyrs, while the lidded-urns, with bacchic thyrsus finials and serpentined handles clasping the flowered guilloche rims, display scrolled cartouches with Caesar medallions. They relate to fire-dog patterns by Andre-Charles Boulle (d.1732) published by Mariette in his, Nouveaux desseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie inventes par Andre-Charles Boulle, pl. 6
Several related elements appear on a chandelier attributed to Andre-Charles Boulle in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes dovés Francais du XVIIIème Siècle Paris 1987, p.91, fig.98.
A closely related pair of urns, previously the top sections of a similar pair of chenets, were sold anonymously Sotheby's New York, 4 November 1989, lot 164.
Several related elements appear on a chandelier attributed to Andre-Charles Boulle in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes dovés Francais du XVIIIème Siècle Paris 1987, p.91, fig.98.
A closely related pair of urns, previously the top sections of a similar pair of chenets, were sold anonymously Sotheby's New York, 4 November 1989, lot 164.