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Lot Essay
These gueridons epitomise the French 'Japonisme' style fashionable during the second half of the 19th century. The style was popularised by the colonisation of East Asia, the export of Japanese works of art to the West during the Meiji period and Japanese displays at the Great Exhibitions. The stylistic vocabulary interprets Japanese motifs such as the geometric fretwork, exotic peacock, bamboo framework and flowered-liana. The combination of gilt and silvered bronze gives an iridescent finish in imitation of Japanese mixed-metal objects known as mokume.
Fantastic 'Japonisme' designs of this type were made by Emile Reiber (1826-1893) and Edouard Lièvre (1829-1886) and executed by premier Parisien bronziers such as Escalier de Cristal, Barbedienne, Christofle and Maison Marnyhac. Towards the late 1870s Liévre created a fabulous suite of neo-Japanese furniture for Albert Vieillard (d. 1895), the renowned director of Bordeaux's ceramics manufactory. It was Vieillard's keen interest for Japan that inspired Liévre's highly original designs. The most celebrated piece of this suite is the Cabinet Japonais, now in the Musée d'Orsay.
The combination of 'Japonisme' with onyx is reminiscent of the meubles et objets de luxe designed by the sculptor Eugène Cornu (d. 1875), who owned marble quarries in Algeria, and executed by the bronzier G. Viot et Cie. For example, compare the magnificent pair of enamel and bronze-mounted onyx vases with elephant-head stands by Cornu and Viot, shown at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris by the Compagnie des Marbres Onyx d'Algérie. The 'GK' stamps to the metalwork here relate to an unidentified maker and also appear on other bronze-mounted onyx works of art of this type, including a pair of vases designed by Eugène Cornu sold Christie's, New York, 24 October 2006, lot 395.
Two closely related tables are known. One with a circular top, but otherwise identical, sold Christie's, London, 7 February 2001, lot 441 (£21,150). Another, again with a circular top and also with a single baluster upright as opposed to the openwork stem here, sold Christie's, London, 28 November, 2001, lot 465.
Fantastic 'Japonisme' designs of this type were made by Emile Reiber (1826-1893) and Edouard Lièvre (1829-1886) and executed by premier Parisien bronziers such as Escalier de Cristal, Barbedienne, Christofle and Maison Marnyhac. Towards the late 1870s Liévre created a fabulous suite of neo-Japanese furniture for Albert Vieillard (d. 1895), the renowned director of Bordeaux's ceramics manufactory. It was Vieillard's keen interest for Japan that inspired Liévre's highly original designs. The most celebrated piece of this suite is the Cabinet Japonais, now in the Musée d'Orsay.
The combination of 'Japonisme' with onyx is reminiscent of the meubles et objets de luxe designed by the sculptor Eugène Cornu (d. 1875), who owned marble quarries in Algeria, and executed by the bronzier G. Viot et Cie. For example, compare the magnificent pair of enamel and bronze-mounted onyx vases with elephant-head stands by Cornu and Viot, shown at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris by the Compagnie des Marbres Onyx d'Algérie. The 'GK' stamps to the metalwork here relate to an unidentified maker and also appear on other bronze-mounted onyx works of art of this type, including a pair of vases designed by Eugène Cornu sold Christie's, New York, 24 October 2006, lot 395.
Two closely related tables are known. One with a circular top, but otherwise identical, sold Christie's, London, 7 February 2001, lot 441 (£21,150). Another, again with a circular top and also with a single baluster upright as opposed to the openwork stem here, sold Christie's, London, 28 November, 2001, lot 465.