Ref.17313
Julien-Nicolas RIVART (1802-1867) - Louis XV style table in ebonized pear wood inlaid with porcelain marquetry

Bibliography: Masterpieces of Marquetry in the 19th century. Patents. Rivart, Cremer, Fourdinois, Kayser Sohn et Duvinage, Marc Maison et Emmanuelle Arnauld, Ed. Faton, 2012, p. 35. This superb violin-shaped table in the Louis XV style was decorated with porcelain marquetry by Julien-Nicolas Rivart . The depth of the black color of the wood is heightened by the precious quality of the colors used in the center of the top: a bouquet containing a great variety of flowers (coreopsis, oleander, convolvulus, roses, etc.) was realized in painted porcelain marquetry according to the process invented by Rivart . The artist was especially attentive to the rendering of each flower that was delicately designed without repetition, accentuating the great naturalism of the composition and giving the impression of a real bouquet of flowers set upon the table. The inlay of the porcelain pieces, notably for the leaves, is directly inspired by Florentine hardstone marquetry and this technique heightens the realistic aspect of the motifs while creating a striking contrast between the different shades of light and dark. Rivart made several tables decorated using porcelain marquetry and this piece owes its great originality to the motif of a bouquet placed on the center of a table that is large in size. This piece differs from other tables by Rivart where garlands of flowers run along the top, as on the one made for the Count of Manneville, kept at the Cité de la Céramique de Sèvres. The artist who painted the porcelain flowers for this table did not sign them. However, it is possible to attribute the work to Pierre-Joseph Guérou , a painter who worked at the Sèvres porcelain factory and whose signature appears on several pieces of furniture by Rivart , such as the jewel cabinet at the Château de Compiègne. As he specialized in painted porcelain plaques, he participated several times in the salons between 1836 and 1865. The treatment of the flowers, in fading tones, seems characteristic of Guérou's painting and attests to the complete mastery of the artist. Inspired by the porcelain plaques fashionable in the 18th century, as well as by Florentine hardstone mosaics, Julien-Nicolas Rivart understood how to develop an innovative technique that totally revitalized the use of porcelain by inlaying it as true marquetry, where each element is independent. Rivart 's porcelain marquetry won awards several times at international exhibitions and this process was particularly praised by critics – French as well as English. Rivart's technique, considered "one of the most important innovations for the decoration of furniture" was universally acclaimed for its charm. Rivart took out a patent on his invention in 1849, thus keeping the exclusivity on this process and producing limited quantities of exceptional pieces of furniture. The beauty of materials, the delicacy of colors and a rare decorative concept are the factors that make this table an exceptional piece of furniture and bears witness to this virtuoso process that spreads over the surface of furniture "the magic that comes from a bouquet of kaolin" (Auguste Luchet, L'Art industriel à l'Exposition de 1867).

Ref.10638
Georges Alphonse MONBRO (attributed to), Pair of low bookcases with bronze espagnolettes

This pair of cabinets with rosewood and amaranth veneer was made during the 19th century. Attributed to Georges Alphonse Bonifacio Monbro, these two pieces of furniture are characteristic of his work because of the delicacy and the profusion of the gilt and finely chiseled bronze decoration. The abundance of Monbro's production and his predilection for eclectic furniture enhanced the belief that Monbro made this cabinets. Monbro, whose father was an antique dealer and a cabinetmaker, was born in 1807 in Paris, where he died in 1884. He took over the family business from 1838 with the name "Monbro aîné" and whose the shop was situated at 18, Rue Basse-du-Rempart. During Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, he had to move and set up in Rue du Helder, in the hôtel Dudon, which will also be demolished. Monbro sold curiosities, furnitures, bronzes, porcelains, tapestries, sculptures and was also cabinetmaker. He acquired a great renown and opened a branch in London around 1850. While his shop was compared by his contemporaries to a real antiquities museum, the furniture he created were famous thanks to their historicism and their eclecticism, in vogue, as this pair of cabinets. The rosewood and amaranth veneer is very fine. The amaranth frames the rosewood parcels whose the streaks add ornamentation and relief, even a certain geometric aesthetic. Richly adorned with carved and gilt bronze, this cabinets each support a Carrara marble top subtly veined. On both sides, bronze and high relief espagnolettes adorn the corners. These espagnolettes, decorated with detailed leaves and draperies, are taken from the Regence style and are become, during Napoleon III, a recurring pattern in the decorative arts. Leaves and bunches of grapes surround the bronze borders as a vine stock. The furniture legs are inspired both by Louis XV and Louis XVI styles : they are ornated with square rosettes which are overhung by rococo curves and shells. A half-lion and half-human face is at the centre and is wrapped with foliage. The bronze is very fine and elaborated, especially on the edgings with rococo decorations which structure each piece of wood or on the edgings finely decorated with oak leaves which frame the two windows. Both restorer and cabinetmaker renowned for his skill as connoisseur about bronzes and antique furnitures, Monbro specialized in historical styles and in antique furnitures reproduction, at a time when copies were most appreciated than originals. Constance Aubert tells in the review L'Opéra in 1842 his journeys through France, Switzerland and Italy for visiting all the castles to find antique furnitures in order to resell or to copy it for his creations. However, if Monbro was a real historic styles expert – Marc Fournier, a critic, writes in the review La Grande ville, that he was "the only curiosities merchant with [...] a great reputation and genuinely versed in the science of archeology" - he did not imitate originals, but he reinterpreted historic styles, according to the trend of the period, and this pair of cabinets is a perfect example : Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon III styles are mixed.Georges Alphonse Bonifacio Monbro is especially known for his ebony and gilt bronze furnitures decorated with enamel such as the one currently exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay. Two caryatids also adorn the angles and the figure in the center is reminiscent of those at the bottom of our cabinets. This furniture with many inspirations - rigor and egyptomania are taken from the Napoleon I style, shells and curves from the Louis XV style, square rosettes from the Louis XVI style - is also characteristic of the furniture of the time.Antiques merchant, with whom "all the precious remains of past ages are," Monbro made bronze furnitures with eclectic decor his specialty, symptomatic of the aestethic of the second half of the 19th century and his taste for curiosities.

Ref.14791
Persian vases from the Manufacture de SÈVRES, a historic model

Our pair of vases are among the beautiful pieces of bourgeois decor from the Belle Epoque. The model, known as the “Persian Bottle”, was created by the Sèvres Manufacture in 1874, based on a Persian (metal) prototype. The Manufacture de Sèvres produced other examples of this model, with variations in color and ornaments. It was chosen by Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, a renowned sculptor who took over as artistic director of the Manufacture between 1874 and 1887. The particularity of the Persian bottle is that it has a very elongated neck, made of white porcelain generally decorated with patterns or flat areas of blue color. The pair of vases we are presenting was made in 1887. They are in plain cobalt blue glazed porcelain. The decor, composed of fine golden borders, dates from 1888. Blue is considered the favorite color of ceramics from Persia, a culture which was of great interest to earthenware makers in the second half of the 19th century. The era, tired of neo-Greek and neo-Etruscan fantasies, was indeed keen on exotic and oriental references.

Ref.5592
Cheminée de style Louis XVI en marbre de Carrare ornée d'un tournesol

Ref.5565
Louis XVI style curved mantel in Arabescato marble