A fine Renaissance revival ormolu and cloisonne enamelled amphora-on-stand
A fine Renaissance revival ormolu and cloisonne enamelled amphora-on-stand

BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, PARIS, CIRCA 1878

Details
A fine Renaissance revival ormolu and cloisonne enamelled amphora-on-stand
By Ferdinand Barbedienne, Paris, Circa 1878
The elongated urn with tapering neck flanked by a pair of stylised leopard handles suspending openwork drops, decorated allover with raised polychrome flowers and Arabesques, the foot inscribed F. BARBEDIENNE, on an inscrolling quadripartite base cast with bearded masks, acanthus and paw feet, the stand supported on four fluted Ionic columns above a balustrade, on a conforming black marble plinth
The urn: 25in. (63.5cm.) high, The stand: 55¼in. (140.3cm.) high

Lot Essay

Ferdinand Barbedienne (d. 1892) began his Parisian foundry in 1839, eventually becoming one of the most active and distinguished bronziers of the 19th century. Although trained as a wallpaper manufacturer, in 1838 he changed his profession to become a fondeur in partnership with Achilles Collas (d. 1859). The Barbedienne workshops were equipped to perform bronze reduction, fine metal cutting, bronze mounting, marble work, turning, enamel decoration and crystal engraving. The firm was celebrated for bronze editions, but also produced decorative objects in styles that reflected the various exotic and revival trends popular at the time. Their work was shown to wide acclaim at all of the most important international exhibitions of the second half of the 19th century. After Ferdinand's death in 1892, the business was taken over by his nephew, Leblanc-Barbedienne, and continued production until 1953.

The original model for this fine enamelled amphora-on-stand featured on Barbedienne's prize-winning stand at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, and is illustrated (see engraving reproduced above) in the Art Journal exhibition catalogue (see The Illustrated Catalogue of the Paris International Exhibition, 1878, The Art Journal, London, 1878, p. 153).

See lot 64 for a further pair of grecian-form cloisonné amphorae by Barbedienne, shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.

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