Extraordinary mantel by Jules Allard et Louis Ardisson - marble

Description

This extraordinary monumental Breche violette marble mantel was designed by Jules Allard for the Manhattan residence of Edward J. Berwind in the end of the 19th century. A pair of gilded winged putti bearing E.J. Berwind’s monogrammed cartouche surmounts the overmantel, composed of an architectural frame molded with a copper-colored egg-and-dart frieze and hanging gilded bronze appliqué flowers. This frame encloses a bas-relief carved in Carrara marble by Louis Ardisson representing Neptune, surrounded by Nereids, dolphins and winged putti. The fireplace surround has a molded rectangular entablature adorned with a Carrara marble frieze also carved by Ardisson, an allegory of fire with putti and sleeping hounds, in a bronze frame that runs down on either side of the hearth. The mantel is flanked by a pair of hemi-figures on lion paw monopodiae, a male Atlantid and a female caryatid, with patinated bronze skin, hooded and draped in gilded bronze lion-pelts. The recessed cast iron rectangular hearth frames a fireback raised with a French Royal coat-of-arms, the two tone marble front hearth mirrors the marbles of the mantel.

Additional information

This extraordinary monumental mantel in violet Breche violette marble was designed by Jules Allard for the Edward J. Berwind estate in Manhattan, New York at the end of the 19th century.