Ref.9386
Four busts of Kings of France, former Beistegui collection

These four Neo-Renaissance style plaster busts represent Kings of France. They are copies of originals from the Renaissance and the 17th century that are in the Louvre. The first bust, copy of a bronze original, represents Louis XIII. For a long time, this sculpture was attributed to Jean Warin in the museum inventories but today specialists believe it is the work of Francesco Bordoni because it was found in the collection of his son Pierre Bordoni at his death. The three other busts are copies of works in alabaster and marble from the studio of the famous sculptor Germain Pilon (1535-1590). They are portraits of Henri II, Charles IX and Henri III. The four kings are wearing coronation clothes, each wearing the chain of the order of Saint Michael around their neck.

Ref.15287
Andre-Fernand THESMAR (1845 - 1912) and Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE, Ornamental Japanese plate

Gilded bronze and cloisonne enamel. On a blue background a naturalistic scene takes place: three birds, with different attitudes, are perched on a thin branch of a tree. Around them unfolds a vegetation made of small flowers and, in the lower part, thicker leaves. In the middle of this scene twirls a butterfly. The theme and the composition are very similar to Japanese enamels, at a time when Europe was fully experiencing the popularity of Japanism. The cloisonne and the carving of the landscape by the birds and the flowered trees are in the naturalistic Japanese style, but the technique and the style are European and modern, which completely characterizes the work of Fernand Thesmar. This is indeed the blue of the Chinese and Japanese enamels that form the bottom of these works. The partitioning replaces the strokes of the drawing, and immersion in color, does not only serve as separation for the polychrome enamel, but also to highlight the shapes.     Following the example of the enamel workshops of the factory of Sevres, Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810 - 1892) introduced enamel in its making of art works: “byzantine” champlevé enamels   from the end of the 1850s, then neo-Renaissance painted enamels and cloissone enamels with Far-Eastern influence. No other company managed to integrate with such success the use of enamel in an industrial production. After some attempts with independent enamelers, , Barbedienne ensured the exclusive collaboration of remarkable practitioners: Alfred Serre for the painted enamel (before 1872) and Fernand Thesmar for clossoine enamel (after 1872). This plate is a beautiful example of the important production that Barbedienne developed in the years 1870 - 1880, at a time when luxury enamel on precious metals was experience a real craze. The motifs of flowers, birds and insects is again found in a series of similar pieces, combining classic shapes and designs of oriental taste, including a glass kept at the Orsay Museum in Paris and another kept at the Walters Art Gallery, in BaltimoreAndre-Fernand Thesmar, born March 4 1843 in Chalon-sur-Saone, first devoted himself to oil painting and was known as a painter of flowers. He was educated in drawing in a factory for printed-fabric in Mulhouse where he had been placed at fourteen years old to learn the trade of a draftsman. His teacher was a painter of flowers: he “drew and dissected the plant with fury, requiring an anatomical analysis of shapes and a meticulous copy of nature.” He left this industrial environment to go to Paris in 1860 and engaged in various activities (workshop of industrial drawing and studio decoration for Cambon’s theater.) It was probably for his talent as a painter that Thesmar was noticed in 1872 by Ferdinand Barbedienne. With Barbedienne, later Thesmar succeeded to the management of the production of enamels. The productions of Thesmar and Barbedienne reflected the interest that they had for the decorative techniques and compositions of Japanese enamel. It was as “co-operator of the Barbedienne company” that Thesmar exhibited at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1874, A cock pheasant from China and Floral Bouquets from greenhouse where they admired his talent as a painter of flowers. At the exposition in 1875, Thesmar exhibited two large enamel compositions on leather, one of which displayed a wader with water lilies and bright yellow iris, completely in the style of our plate and showing the style of the return to nature.In 1891, Thesmar turned to the decoration of porcelain and introduced himself to Charles Lauth who, since 1879, led the Factory de Sèvres. Its at this time that the collaboration with the Barbedienne company ended. Afterwards, he would be especially known for having invented the “plique à jour” technique, which numerous pieces of are kept in public collections.

Ref.15230
Louis-Robert CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1848 - 1913) and POTTERY FROM CHOISY LE ROI (1863 -1938), "Children and Butterflies"

Stoneware model presented at the Exposition of the National Society of Fine-Arts in 1898, under the number 4060, with three other vases: Run for your lives! Hercules and Omphale and Music. Reproduced in Antique and Modern Decoration, 7th year, 1900, drawing 66. Enameled pottery.This vase has a slender form that contrasts the four handles. The body is completely decorated with floral or purely decorative elements while the characters are restricted to the neck level. A frieze of cherubs chasing butterflies develops along the neck, in a round frenzy. A brown tint covers the entire piece but fades in the upper part, thus becoming more yellow. This vase displays a decor that combines different techniques. The body of the vase is decorated with a floral decor which mixes elements in relief and engraved elements. The frieze of children is produced in clay on clay. This process, perfected at the Factory of Sevres around 1848 was frequently used by sculptors, which Louis Carrier-Belleuse was. It consists of applying generally white motifs on a colored background. However, the totality of the piece has been enameled which contributes to giving light green reflections to the bodies of the children. This original vase mixes two inspirations: the frieze of cherubs resembles the production of the Second Empire while the body of the vase displays plant elements indicating Art Nouveau.In the Exposition of the National Society of Fine-Arts in 1898, this vase appeared for the first time in stoneware, accompanied by three other vases: Hercules and Omphale, Run for your lives! and Music. These four vases are presented under the same number (no. 4060) and in the same display window. Three of the four vases, including Children and Butterflies, were reproduced, in 1900, in the review of Antique and Modern Decoration. Children and Butterflies was acquired in 2003 by Musee du Petit Palais, in Paris, and it is one of the rare examples of a vase by this artist conserved in a public French collection. The same year,  he exhibited a fifth vase under the number 4059, entitled Farming. The vase that we present, produced in stoneware, is not the one presented at the Exposition in 1898. However, its reproduction, by the pottery in Choisy-Le-Roi proves the popularity of this model and its creator.

Ref.14555
Pair of Louis XV period door overmantels depicting scenes from the life of Venus

Ref.15976
After Philippe MAGNIER, after the antique, The Wrestlers

This bronze was made after the antique The Wrestlers by Philippe Magnier (1648-1715) between 1884 and 1888, based on a plaster cast from the antique preserved in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence. It depicts two wrestlers or pancratiasts in action: one holds his opponent on the ground using his legs, while twisting his arm with one hand; the other, with his body folded over to the extreme, tries to resist the pressure exerted on him by his opponent; his face reveals effort and suffering, while maintaining classical perfection of features. The bulging muscles of the fighters demonstrate a precise study of human anatomy by the artist and a desire to accurately represent the sport, starting from Antiquity. The antique sculpture The Wrestlers, probably inspired by a now-lost Greek bronze, was discovered near Rome in 1583. It reminds us that pankration is a Greek combat sport, practiced during the ancient Olympic Games, which allowed the opponents great freedom in their attacks. This sport was practiced nude, as shown in this representation. In the 1680s, at a time when copies of antiques and modern commissions populated the king’s groves, a marble statue after the antique was commissioned by the royal administration from Philippe Magnier for the gardens of Versailles. The sculpture was placed in the park of the Château de Marly in the 1690s, where it remained until the Revolution. Numerous bronze casts were executed from Magnier’s marble in France in the 19th century. This medium, which gives an enhanced naturalistic impression compared to white marble, highlights the athletes' musculature. This bronze is thus emblematic of the enthusiasm generated by this representation of two wrestlers from its rediscovery during the Renaissance until the 19th century.

Ref.15486
Carved Woodwork Panel, 19th century

This woodwork element features delicate carved ornamentation. At the base, a rectangular frame is highlighted by a motif of bundles tied with ribbons. In the center, the opening is formed by a frame forming an arched arch sculpted with a torus of foliage topped by a knotted ribbon; the spandrels are adorned with flowers. At the top, the four corners of the frame are decorated with small square rosettes; the corners of the surrounding frieze of bundles, echoing the lower part of the panel, are turned inward. The entire piece displays high-quality craftsmanship in its carving. Woodwork elements can be sold separately.