THE JARDINIÉRE, APPARENTLY UNMARKED APART FROM STAMPED MANUFACTURER'S NAME MARREL ON THE RIM, AND THE BASE ENGRAVED MARREL AINÉ ET FILS, PARIS, 1866 AND MODELLED BY CAIN, THE PLINTH MOUNTS WITH MARK OF ROBERT GARRARD, LONDON, 1866

Details

A French silver-gilt jardiniére on a Victorian silver-gilt mounted plinth
The jardiniére, apparently unmarked apart from stamped manufacturer's name Marrel on the rim, and the base engraved Marrel Ainé et Fils, Paris, 1866 and modelled by Cain, the plinth mounts with mark of Robert Garrard, London, 1866
The jardiniére, shaped oval on four scrolling oak-branch feet, the body elaborately cast and chased with scenes of a stag hunt with encircling hounds, applied to each side with a strapwork cartouche flanked with hunting-horns, the handles formed as twigs supporting running stags, all in a textured foliate ground with oak leaves and acorns, the moulded outcurved rim with elongated guilloche border below, one cartouche engraved with a presentation inscription, the base also engraved with an inscription, with a plain plated liner with drop-ring handles, the stepped oval wooden plinth applied with four cast silver-gilt foliate scroll feet, at the ends with oak-leaves and acorn terminals, and to each side with a coat-of-arms and motto, the jardiniére rim stamped 'MARREL', the body stamped 'CAIN', the plinth with each mount marked
The jardiniére, 23in. (58cm.) long; the plinth, 30in. (76cm.) long
The jardiniére, 349oz. (10,881gr.)
The inscription in the cartouche reads, 'GRAND PRIX DE PARIS DONNÉ PAR L'EMPEREUR 1866'. The inscription on the base reads, 'Marrel Ainé et Fils Orfévres de S.M. l'Empereur et S.M. l'Imperatrice 21 Boulevard de la Madeleine Paris'

The arms on the base are those of Somerset, for Henry, 8th Duke of Beaufort K.G. (1824-1899)

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Lot Essay

Auguste-Nicolas Cain (1821-1894), sculptor and designer renowned for his animal figures, entered the studio of Alexandre Guionnet and then François Rude, augmenting his training by drawing animals in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. During the 1840s he worked for the goldsmiths François-Auguste Fannière and François-Joseph-Louis and made models for the house of Christofle, exhibiting small-scale animal sculptures at the Salon from 1846 onwards. He went into partnership with the sculptor Pierre-Jules Mène, whose daughter he married in 1852, casting many of his own works in bronze at their foundry.

Cain began to receive official commissions in the 1850s, making animal sculptures to decorate the Egyptian department in the Louvre, the grounds of Fontainebleau, the palaces of the Tuileries where he also provided four sculptural groups for the gardens, the Louvre and the Elysée, as well as the Jeu de Paume at Versailles. He was also involved in the decoration of the Opéra, the Hotel de Ville and the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris. Outside France, Cain is represented in public sites in New York, Buenos Aires and Geneva.

The Grand Prix de Paris is a race run over 3,000 meters for three year old fillies and colts at Longchamp racecourse. In 1866 the the race was won by Duke of Beaufort's Ceylon.

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