Ref.11017
Louis XV style cage chandelier in rock crystal and gilded metal

This elegant cage chandelier was made in the 1970s. The frame is made of gold painted metal, decorated with many carved rock crystal pendants. The lights are decorated with sheet metal sheets painted in gold.

Ref.13521
Gilt and sculpted wood bed with a very rich Rococo decoration and dragons coming from Marlène Dietrich's Parisian appartment

This bed with an impressive decor was made of gilt and sculpted wood in the 20th century and comes from the old apartment of the French actress Marlène Dietrich (1901-1992). The headboard is adorned with an opulent Rococo decoration with curved edges, showing stylized shells with acanthus leaves coilings. The whole is lightened up with two small dragons put on each side threateningly and with a winding body. The foodboard also shows a very rich sculpted decoration composed of impressive volutes with acanthus leaves put all around a stylised shell. On the bed's frame a gadrooned frieze and an interlaced one are running, while the sides each receive splendid shell decor from where are escaping acanthus leaves and flower garlands.

Ref.13398
The Oration of Mark Antony, second half of the 19th century

This painting, depicting Marc Antony’s funeral oration over the body of Julius Caesar, was executed in the second half of the 19th century, after 1879. The scene of this painting takes place in the days following Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C.E. Around twenty conspiratorial senators had struck him down with their weapons. In the aftermath of the event, Rome descended into turmoil. While the Senate sought to preserve peace, Caesar’s funeral, depicted here, only added to the public disorder: initially, the people seemed inclined to align with the conspirators, but the public display of Caesar’s body, Marc Antony’s speech, and the reading of the late consul’s will turned the tide. This is the moment shown in the painting, recounted by various ancient authors, including Suetonius and Appian of Alexandria, as well as by Shakespeare. The imposing architectural setting is structured by a grand staircase and monumental columns, symbolizing both the might of the Roman Empire and Caesar’s authority at its helm. The funeral bed occupies a central place, bearing an inanimate body, pale yet dignified. The grieving populace, gathered to mourn the great man, forms a long diagonal line that fades into the shadowy background, suggesting an endless crowd. The variety of figures, their number, and the diversity of gestures and expressions represent the entirety of the Roman people, come to pay homage to the consul. On the right, Marc Antony raises Caesar’s bloodstained toga. The scene seems drawn from Shakespeare’s tragedy, in which Marc Antony descends from his platform to invite the people to gather around Caesar for the reading of his will. Suetonius, meanwhile, describes Caesar’s funeral pyre erected in the Field of Mars: the body is laid on an “ivory bier draped in purple and gold” alongside the “garments he wore when he was killed.” The painter carefully portrays the “procession of all those wishing to bring offerings.” Appian of Alexandria adds the detail of Piso, Caesar’s executor, who insisted on making the will and the funeral public. Piso may be the figure descending the steps in the upper right, holding a parchment scroll. According to Appian, after Caesar’s body was carried to the Forum, Marc Antony read aloud his decrees and, overcome with grief, “unveiled Caesar’s body, displayed his robe... torn by dagger blows and still stained with blood.” Although the painter embraces pathos, he refrains from depicting Caesar’s face disfigured by wounds, as described in Plutarch’s account. Beyond the architectural details and textual fidelity, the artist’s taste for historicism is evident in the inclusion of incense burners and the meticulous rendering of garments. According to ancient sources, the tumult caused by Caesar’s funeral was so great that it culminated in the creation of a spontaneous pyre, as the crowd could not agree on another location and the risk of fire was lessened in the Forum. The people then sought to avenge Caesar by setting fire to the homes of the conspirators. The moment depicted is thus a pivotal one: between approval of the assassins and mourning, and between mourning and vengeance, embodying a peak of tension and emotional expressiveness. The renowned German history painter Karl von Piloty created an Assassination of Julius Caesar that might be considered a prelude to this work. Though less famous than the assassination of Julius Caesar, the subject of Marc Antony’s oration saw renewed interest in the 19th century. For instance, Georg Edward Robertson (1864-1926) created a Funeral Oration of Marc Antony Over the Body of Caesar around 1894-1895, now held in the Hartlepool Museums’ collections. Its composition features similar elements to this painting: an imposing architectural framework evocative of ancient Rome; the mourning crowd; the body laid out for all to see; and Marc Antony, advocating for Caesar and his cause against that of the tyrannicides. This monumental work thus captures a lesser-known but equally fertile subject, rich in expressiveness and historical representation, deeply rooted in the century of its creation.

Ref.15341
japonesque frame in carved wood and mother-of-pearl marquetry, decorated with a bronze dragon, with its silk painting depicting a winter landscape

Japonisme in French decorative arts The Japonisme movement, which developed in France from the Universal Exhibitions of 1867 and 1878 onwards, shaped European decorative arts during the late 19th century. Several Parisian workshops, among them Gabriel Viardot and Perret & Vibert, specialised in the production of furniture and decorative objects blending Chinese and Japanese ornamental codes. Stained wood, mother-of-pearl marquetry, chiselled bronzes depicting dragons and chimeras, along with motifs of plum blossom or cranes, characterise this production intended for a wealthy bourgeois clientele. Description of the work This Japonesque frame adopts a rectangular shape in stained wood, whose upper and lower transoms rise into recurved points evoking the eaves of Far Eastern pagodas. The structure is articulated by openwork carved panels, in the upper and lower bands, displaying scrolls and Greek fret motifs drawn from the Chinese repertoire. Along the side uprights as well as in the lower band runs a frieze of mother-of-pearl marquetry depicting a flowering plum branch, a recurrent motif of Japanese iconography. The uprights are accented in their upper part by an engraved cartouche in the form of a stylised flame. At the centre of the upper transom, a small bronze dragon with copper and gilt patina emerges from a wooden cartouche, jaws open, with a long pendulous moustache, its clawed paws resting on the band. At the opposite corner responds a second bronze element depicting the serpentine tail and fins of the creature, suggesting its passage through the frame. The centre houses a silk painting representing a winter landscape in grisaille: snow-covered undergrowth, bare trees, two figures in traditional costume at the foot of the tall trunks. The work is to be restored, the silk showing wear and tears in places.