.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
THE ORNAMENT
This magnificent golden and Roman-bronzed jewel-box vitrine is conceived in the French 'Empire' style promoted by C. Percier and P. Fontaine. Wreathed by flowers and palms appropriate to a 'coffret de marriage', it displays Cupid and butterfly on love's altar and evokes Apuleius's 'Golden Ass', concerning the romance of Cupid and Psyche. The frieze bas-reliefs include 'Vanitas' Medusa-heads beside triumphal marine Cupids and sporting-Cupid tablets celebrating Love's Triumph; while a trophy of Hymen's toches accompanies the altar, whose bee-stung Cupid recalls the Golden Age.
THE ORIGIN
The statue of 'L'Amour', also called 'L'Amour prenunt un papillon', derives from a sculpture on a bee-hive decorated plinth exhibited at the 1802 Salon by the sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet (d. 1810) (J-R. Gaborit, Sculpture Francaise II, vol. 1, Paris 1988, LL56). This model of 'Cupid' bronze, together with its accompanying pendant bronze of Venus after an antique prototype which was siezed by Napoleon in 1797 and taken to Paris (it has since returned to the Vatican), was a popular theme for Empire bronziers and can be seen for instance on the pair in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on the Venus (later converted into a clock) acquired by Lord Stuart de Rothesay for Highcliffe Castle (S. Medlam, The Bettine Lady Abingdon Collection, London, 1996, p.69, M.9) and on the pair at the musée Marmottan, Paris (Y. Brayer, 'L'Empire, Musée Marmottan, Paris, 1977, p.35.
Although no attribution has come to light, an extremely close parallel can be drawn with the Russian table with Badakshan lazurite mosaic top formerly with Tzigany Fine Arts, London. Illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture The Golden Age 1780-1840, London, 1988, figs.304, this latter table displays the same treatment of cut-cornered inset top, an identical bas-relief to the frieze, corresponding Medusa masks heading the legs and closely related Corinthian capitals. Interestingly, the reeded legs with central clasps are also displayed on a pair of Russian tables with lazurite tops illustated in ibid., fig.303. The Russian origin of this table, probably employing an exported French Empire ornament of Cupid to adorn the stretcher, is convincing; it is a possibility, therefore, that the glazed top on this table could conceivably replace an original lazurite top.
Certainly, the Empire design of the table is a particularly early example of a vitrine table, as this type of furniture does not widely appear until the second quarter of the 19th Century. Having said that, there are fleeting references to one-off commissions for vitrine-type display tables earlier than 1830, and indeed Thomas Hope included a glazed display stand for a mummified body in The Egyptian Hall of his mansion Museum in Duchess Street, which is illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, p.X.
This magnificent golden and Roman-bronzed jewel-box vitrine is conceived in the French 'Empire' style promoted by C. Percier and P. Fontaine. Wreathed by flowers and palms appropriate to a 'coffret de marriage', it displays Cupid and butterfly on love's altar and evokes Apuleius's 'Golden Ass', concerning the romance of Cupid and Psyche. The frieze bas-reliefs include 'Vanitas' Medusa-heads beside triumphal marine Cupids and sporting-Cupid tablets celebrating Love's Triumph; while a trophy of Hymen's toches accompanies the altar, whose bee-stung Cupid recalls the Golden Age.
THE ORIGIN
The statue of 'L'Amour', also called 'L'Amour prenunt un papillon', derives from a sculpture on a bee-hive decorated plinth exhibited at the 1802 Salon by the sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet (d. 1810) (J-R. Gaborit, Sculpture Francaise II, vol. 1, Paris 1988, LL56). This model of 'Cupid' bronze, together with its accompanying pendant bronze of Venus after an antique prototype which was siezed by Napoleon in 1797 and taken to Paris (it has since returned to the Vatican), was a popular theme for Empire bronziers and can be seen for instance on the pair in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on the Venus (later converted into a clock) acquired by Lord Stuart de Rothesay for Highcliffe Castle (S. Medlam, The Bettine Lady Abingdon Collection, London, 1996, p.69, M.9) and on the pair at the musée Marmottan, Paris (Y. Brayer, 'L'Empire, Musée Marmottan, Paris, 1977, p.35.
Although no attribution has come to light, an extremely close parallel can be drawn with the Russian table with Badakshan lazurite mosaic top formerly with Tzigany Fine Arts, London. Illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture The Golden Age 1780-1840, London, 1988, figs.304, this latter table displays the same treatment of cut-cornered inset top, an identical bas-relief to the frieze, corresponding Medusa masks heading the legs and closely related Corinthian capitals. Interestingly, the reeded legs with central clasps are also displayed on a pair of Russian tables with lazurite tops illustated in ibid., fig.303. The Russian origin of this table, probably employing an exported French Empire ornament of Cupid to adorn the stretcher, is convincing; it is a possibility, therefore, that the glazed top on this table could conceivably replace an original lazurite top.
Certainly, the Empire design of the table is a particularly early example of a vitrine table, as this type of furniture does not widely appear until the second quarter of the 19th Century. Having said that, there are fleeting references to one-off commissions for vitrine-type display tables earlier than 1830, and indeed Thomas Hope included a glazed display stand for a mummified body in The Egyptian Hall of his mansion Museum in Duchess Street, which is illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, p.X.