a napoleon III ormolu and sevres-style porcelain garniture de cheminee

Details

a napoleon III ormolu and sevres-style porcelain garniture de cheminee
Consisting of a mantel clock and a pair of candelabra, mounted overall with blue de roi style plaques and decorated with gallant scenes with courtly figures and romantic landscapes, the mantel clock with a circular dial with Roman chapters, within a stepped arched rounded case edged with beading and acanthus, surmounted by a neoclassical urn above scrolling acanthus, the dial flanked by portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette, the stepped plinth mounted with flower-heads and on toupie feet, the candelabra each with a vase-shaped stem surmounted by a pierced foliate shaft with a flaming finial, issuing five scrolling foliate branches with foliate drip pans and circular nozzles above a waisted fluted spreading base and a circular socle edged with stiff-leaf and on beaded toupie feet
The clock 64cm. high; the candelabra 67cm. high (3)

Lot Essay

This type of garniture de cheminée was extremely popular in 19th Century Dutch society. As they were not manufactured in the Netherlands it was necessary for the admirers of such pieces to import them from France or Belgium. A fine example of an ormolu garniture can be found on the chimney piece of one of the main reception rooms of Museum Bisdom van Vliet in Haastrecht, the former home of Mrs. Maria Lefèvre de Montigny-Bisdom van Vliet which, on her death in 1923, was transformed into a museum, preserving the 19th Century interior. (R.J. Baarsen et.al., De Lelijke Tijd, Pronkstukken van Nederlandse Interieurkunst 1835-1895, Amsterdam, 1995, pp.23 and 154-155)

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