Lot Nr.1034

A pair of Russo-Byzantine style champlevé mirror sconces

from the workshop of Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810 - 1892), Paris, 1860 or later
Bronze, fire gilt, champlevé enamel, and alabaster. Original oval mirror plates with bevelled edges. The frames with surrounding polychrome tendril and flower ornaments surmounted by crestings cut with bows and embellished by three-dimensional scrolling flowers, signed on the underside "F. Barbedienne". Mounted on the lower edges of the mirrors are en suite sconces in the shape of ancient alabaster vases with pine cone finials and three insertable candle arms with vine tendril decorations. One sconce with inventory label "ON" of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. Total height ca. 80 cm, width 46.5 cm.
Extremely elaborate pair of mirror sconces, probably given as presents by Emperor Napoleon III for Olga's coronation. In pristine condition.
Ferdinand Barbedienne is considered one of the most distinguished bronze founders of France. In 1838 he joined forces with Achille Collas and established the Workshop Collas & Barbedienne, which manufactured bronze casts of ancient statues and sculptures of famous artists (such as Francois Rude, Jean Baptiste Clesinger, Pierre Jean David d'Angers or Auguste Rodin). At the same time they also became renowned for their excellent furniture and accessories and were thus commissioned to furnish the lobby of the Paris Hotel de Ville in 1855, receiving a medaille d'honneur for this work in the same year. They subsequently also obtained contracts for the court of Emperor Napoleon III, among them the manufacture of candelabra for the imperial apartment in the Louvre. After Achille Collas's death in 1859, other significant and internationally highly regarded works followed, which incorporated the medieval technique of champlevé enamel.
Among Barbedienne's customers were not only the European high nobility and money aristocracy, but also American merchants such as William H. Vanderbilt from New York or Henry Probasco from Cincinnati.
A champlevé vase with a tripod base can be seen today at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which was acquired during the London Exhibition in 1862. Another pair of vases is exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Provenance: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova (1822 - 1892).

Condition: I

Limit: 15000 EURO

29000 EURO