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    Sale 7464

    Un hôtel particulier du Faubourg Saint-Germain The Collection of The Marquis and Marquise de Ravenel

    London

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    21 - 22 November 2007

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    • AN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ORMOLU-MOU
    Lot 350

    AN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED RED LEATHER BOX

    CIRCA 1816

    Price realised

    GBP 7,500

    Estimate

    GBP 5,000 - GBP 8,000

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    AN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED RED LEATHER BOX
    CIRCA 1816
    The hinged lid inset with a hand-coloured engraving inscribed 'Der FRANZENSPLATZ bey BRÜNN, November 1816, Rektorzick', within a foliate and anthemion mounted border, with entwined serpent carrying-handles, the blue velvet lined interior with a removable panel inscribed 'DER KAISERIN CAROLINA KOENIGIN AUGUSTA DIE TREV GEHORSAMSTEN STAENDE MAEHRENS DEC M.DCCCXVI', enclosing a blue velvet cushion, the underside with wax seal
    4 in. (10 cm.) high; 17 in. (43.5 cm.) wide; 14¼ in. (36 cm.) deep

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    Lot Essay

    The box, celebrating the 1815 peace treaty following Emperor Napolean's defeat by the Holy Alliance at Waterloo, displays a print of the commemorative obelisk erected that year by Francis I of Austria (d.1835) in the Franzensberg Gardens overlooking the Moravian Plain at Brünn near Vienna. The engraving, likely to have been made from a watercolour by Balthazar Wigand (d.1846), is framed by festive bas-relief bronze trophies of palms and laurels designed in the antique manner popularised by C.Percier and P.F.L. Fontaine's, Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, Paris, 1812; while its handles comprise entwined Apollonian serpents clasping sunflowered paterae. Such bronze reliefs were typical of the manufactures of the Vienna-trained sculptor Josef Ulrich Danhauser (d.1829), whose manufactory of bronze ornaments, founded in 1804, was granted an imperial licence to execute all forms of furniture in 1814. Amongst the leading Viennese retailers of such decorative boxes were Stephan Syré in the Kohlmarkt, and the Huguenot Nicolas Rozet, whose premises, established in 1770, made reference to Apollo's Mt. Parnassus role as leader of the Muses of Artistic Inspiration, being titled, 'The Nine Muses'.

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    Special Notice

    No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.


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