AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND MALACHITE CENTER PIECE
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND MALACHITE CENTER PIECE

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

细节
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU AND MALACHITE CENTER PIECE
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
The removable tazza to top with everted lip and reeded spreading shaft with stiff-leaf rim, supported by three classically-draped maidens on a circular shaft with Apollo's mask above vine alternating with flaming toches to the sides, on a stepped base with winged paw feet, the stiff-leaf rim to base marked 'D.F.' to inside, the uppermost tazza probably with alterations
22 in. (56 cm.) high

拍品专文

This 'antique' centerpiece, in the form of three classical maidens holding aloft a 'Roman' tazza on a stepped base adorned with Apollo masks and supported on winged paw feet, exemplifies the European taste for Classical imagery in decorative arts during the early part of the 19th century. A related centerpiece with similar attributes, dated 1810, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 385, fig. 5.16.7. Ciseleur-doreur Pierre Philippe Thomire fabricant de bronzes Pierre-François Feuchere frequently used this composition, with variations, in their work (ibid, pp. 382 - 387, figs. 5.16.4 - 5.16.3).

The use of richly figured malachite is characteristic of objects of Russian manufacture in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Due to the wonderful decorative quality of malachite and its complimentary features to ormolu, this combination gained favor in France and throughout Europe during the course of the 19th Century.