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Lot Essay
The mosaic tablet, tesseraed in piccolo and conceived in the Pompeiian manner, is wreathed by a poetic beribboned laurel as well as acanthus-twined urns emblematical of the Seasons. It celebrates 'Fidelity's Triumph' and represents a garlanded urn attended by Love's Cupid-driven chariot and a spaniel, whilst its baluster 'altar' support, guarded by griffin caryatids, sacred to Apollo, addorsed on an antique-fluted tripod plinth, relates to the antique style promoted by C. Percier and P. Fontaine in their Recueil de Décorations Intéreures, Paris, 1801.
This mosaic top may conceivably have been executed by Antonio Aguatti, one of the most celebrated Roman mosaicists, who signed a related mosaic tablet with Cupid-driven chariot that was later set into a Parisian snuff-box circa 1810 (C. Truman, 'The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes', Los Angeles, pp. 126 and 127). Interestingly, Aguatti also signed two other 'box' mosaics 'in piccolo' of spaniels, as well as a table top displaying a Cupid-driven chariot, which is now in the Hermitage (A. Gonzales-Palacios, The Art of Mosaics', Los Angeles, 1982, nos. 37 and 38).
THE CHATEAU DE SAINT-MARTIN D'ABLOIS
The château de Saint-Martin d'Ablois was built in 1762 by Jean-Charles de Meulan, reeveur général des finances de Paris, following his marriage to Marguerite de Saint-Chamans. Following Madame de Meulen's death in 1790, the château was inherited by her daughter, Pauline, who subsequently married Guizot, the future minister of Louis-Philippe, in spite of an age difference of nearly 14 years, in 1812.
Subsequently acquired by the comte Roy, Ministre des Finances of Charles X (1764-1847), it is interesting to note that the Inventory of the comte's Parisian hôtel records:-
'Une table avec trois griffons, au marbre d'Italie'.
This mosaic top may conceivably have been executed by Antonio Aguatti, one of the most celebrated Roman mosaicists, who signed a related mosaic tablet with Cupid-driven chariot that was later set into a Parisian snuff-box circa 1810 (C. Truman, 'The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes', Los Angeles, pp. 126 and 127). Interestingly, Aguatti also signed two other 'box' mosaics 'in piccolo' of spaniels, as well as a table top displaying a Cupid-driven chariot, which is now in the Hermitage (A. Gonzales-Palacios, The Art of Mosaics', Los Angeles, 1982, nos. 37 and 38).
THE CHATEAU DE SAINT-MARTIN D'ABLOIS
The château de Saint-Martin d'Ablois was built in 1762 by Jean-Charles de Meulan, reeveur général des finances de Paris, following his marriage to Marguerite de Saint-Chamans. Following Madame de Meulen's death in 1790, the château was inherited by her daughter, Pauline, who subsequently married Guizot, the future minister of Louis-Philippe, in spite of an age difference of nearly 14 years, in 1812.
Subsequently acquired by the comte Roy, Ministre des Finances of Charles X (1764-1847), it is interesting to note that the Inventory of the comte's Parisian hôtel records:-
'Une table avec trois griffons, au marbre d'Italie'.