Lot Essay
These pedestals closely relate in character to the goût expounded by Nicolas Demidoff (d.1828). The heir to the fabulous Demidoff fortune, amassed as a result of their appointment as suppliers of weaponry to the Russian Imperial armies and further augmented by the exploitation of their silver and mineral mines, particularly malachite, in the Urals, Nicolas Demidoff moved to Paris from Tula following the defeat of Napoléon. On the death of his wife, Elizabeth Stroganoff in 1818, Demidoff moved again to Rome, finally settling in Florence in 1822. Appointed Russian minister to the Tuscan Court and elevated to Count of San Donato by the Grand Duke, Demidoff proceeded to construct a magnificient villa at San Donato, on the site of the old Medici lands. This villa was furnished with a remarkable collection of pictures, sculptures and furniture, acquired both locally and in Paris (see F. Haskell et. al., 'Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-70)', Exhibition Catalogue, The Wallace Collection, London, 1994)
As early as 1806, Nicolas Demidoff commissioned the Parisian goldsmith Henri Auguste (d.1816) to supply a guéridon-table (now in the Museo Stibbert, Florence) and, following his move to Rome in 1819, he ordered the ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (maître in 1772) to mount an enormous malachite vase (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as well as to supply a two-metre long console table with legs in the form of Nike, which he gave to Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Florence (now in the Pitti Palace, Florence). Uniquely positioned, therefore, to commission objets such as the Houghton pedestals, with their highly unusual combination of malachite and pietra dura within finely chased gilt-bronze frames, the close relationship between the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the Demidoff family is further confirmed in the 1830's when Nicolas's son, Anatole, received several items of pietra dura work in exchange for his gift to the Grand Duke of 1,200 specimen minerals from the Taguil Mines. It is, therefore, interesting to note that related items, 'les bronzes...exécutés par Feuchère', appear in the salon des Mosaiques in the San Donato sale catalogue, 15 March 1880 and following days, lot 311:-
311 QUATRE GRANDS ET TRES BEAUX VASES MEDICIS en malachite, ornés du bas-reliefs, de couronnes de pampres et d'anses en bronze doré, reposant sur des socles carrés offrant sur chaque face un médaillon hexagone à bouquet de fleurs en ancienne mosaïque florentine en relief. Ils sont élevés sur des bases carrées en malachite ornées de même manière
Les bronzes ont été exécutés par Feuchère
A related plinth is in the Gilbert Collection (illustrated in A. González-Palacios et. al., The Art of Mosaics, Selections from the Gilbert Collection, Los Angeles, 1982, rev. ed. no. 25)
A related pair of malachite plinths supporting athénienne candelabra are illustrated in V.B. Seyonor, Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, 1, fig. 70.
As early as 1806, Nicolas Demidoff commissioned the Parisian goldsmith Henri Auguste (d.1816) to supply a guéridon-table (now in the Museo Stibbert, Florence) and, following his move to Rome in 1819, he ordered the ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (maître in 1772) to mount an enormous malachite vase (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as well as to supply a two-metre long console table with legs in the form of Nike, which he gave to Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Florence (now in the Pitti Palace, Florence). Uniquely positioned, therefore, to commission objets such as the Houghton pedestals, with their highly unusual combination of malachite and pietra dura within finely chased gilt-bronze frames, the close relationship between the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the Demidoff family is further confirmed in the 1830's when Nicolas's son, Anatole, received several items of pietra dura work in exchange for his gift to the Grand Duke of 1,200 specimen minerals from the Taguil Mines. It is, therefore, interesting to note that related items, 'les bronzes...exécutés par Feuchère', appear in the salon des Mosaiques in the San Donato sale catalogue, 15 March 1880 and following days, lot 311:-
311 QUATRE GRANDS ET TRES BEAUX VASES MEDICIS en malachite, ornés du bas-reliefs, de couronnes de pampres et d'anses en bronze doré, reposant sur des socles carrés offrant sur chaque face un médaillon hexagone à bouquet de fleurs en ancienne mosaïque florentine en relief. Ils sont élevés sur des bases carrées en malachite ornées de même manière
Les bronzes ont été exécutés par Feuchère
A related plinth is in the Gilbert Collection (illustrated in A. González-Palacios et. al., The Art of Mosaics, Selections from the Gilbert Collection, Los Angeles, 1982, rev. ed. no. 25)
A related pair of malachite plinths supporting athénienne candelabra are illustrated in V.B. Seyonor, Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, 1, fig. 70.