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Lot Essay
This elegant pair of athéniennes are an excellent example of the faithful neoclassicism of the Directoire period inspired by the magnificent archaeoligical finds at Rome and Herculaneum in the latter part of the 18th century.
The design closely relates to the celebrated work of the archtiect Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (1760-1834) Recueil et parallèle des édifices de tout genre, anciens et modernes, published 1799-1801. Containing a number of designs for tripods, fountains, candlabra, lamps and furniture, a tripod on plate no 75 entitled 'Détails romains' is similar to the present lot with a related tripartite base, X-shaped uprights with paw feet and circular dish. The late 18th and early 19th century saw a proliferation of designs for neoclassical furnishings and an athénienne with related X-shaped uprights and circular dish but more elaborate decoration was illustrated in the work of Percier and Fontaine and a further related athénienne with patinated and gilt-bronze decoration in an engraving by Pierre-Antoine de La Mésangère, Meubles et objets de goût :…Trépied… currently preserved in the musée Carnavalet, Paris.
An identical pair of athéniennes was illustrated in Y. Carlier 'Le goût Empire', Arts décoratifs 1799-1814, Beaux-Arts Magazine, Hors-série, 1992, p. 22.
The design closely relates to the celebrated work of the archtiect Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (1760-1834) Recueil et parallèle des édifices de tout genre, anciens et modernes, published 1799-1801. Containing a number of designs for tripods, fountains, candlabra, lamps and furniture, a tripod on plate no 75 entitled 'Détails romains' is similar to the present lot with a related tripartite base, X-shaped uprights with paw feet and circular dish. The late 18th and early 19th century saw a proliferation of designs for neoclassical furnishings and an athénienne with related X-shaped uprights and circular dish but more elaborate decoration was illustrated in the work of Percier and Fontaine and a further related athénienne with patinated and gilt-bronze decoration in an engraving by Pierre-Antoine de La Mésangère, Meubles et objets de goût :…Trépied… currently preserved in the musée Carnavalet, Paris.
An identical pair of athéniennes was illustrated in Y. Carlier 'Le goût Empire', Arts décoratifs 1799-1814, Beaux-Arts Magazine, Hors-série, 1992, p. 22.