Ferdinand Barbedienne
A Fine Neoclassical Patinated and Gilt-Bronze Gueridon With A Rouge Griotte Marble Top,
£16,000
A Neoclassical Gilt and Patinated Bronze Gueridon, Attributed to Barbedienne and Ferdinand Levillain. This striking gueridon has a circular inset rouge...
Dimensions
Height: 81 cm (32 in)Width: 39 cm (16 in)
Depth: 39 cm (16 in)
Description
A Neoclassical Gilt and Patinated Bronze Gueridon, Attributed to Barbedienne and Ferdinand Levillain.
This striking gueridon has a circular inset rouge griotte marble top within a gilt-bronze egg and dart border. The top is supported on three patinated bronze monopodia supports with stylised lions heads and paws and united by gilt-bronze ‘X’ – form cross stretchers.
The design for a plateau or stand, with comparative stylised monopodia supports, by Ferdinand Levillain and cast by Barbedienne, was illustrated in the 1889 Gazette des Beaux-Arts and reproduced by Jonathan Meyer in his book Great Exhibitions.
French, Circa 1890.
Ferdinand Levillain
Ferdinand Levillain (1837 – 1905) had his debut at the Paris Salon in 1861 and won recognition through the 1860’s and 1870’s for his work with the highly respected fondeur Barbedienne. In 1878 he ceased his collaboration with Barbedienne and triumphed alone at the Exposition Universelle, where he won a gold medal.
Date
Circa 1890
Origin
France
Medium
Gilt and Patinated Bronze and Rouge Griotte Marble
Ferdinand Barbedienne (6 August 1810 – 21 March 1892) was a French metalworker and manufacturer, who was well known as a bronze founder.
The son of a small farmer from Calvados, he started his career as a dealer in wallpaper in Paris. In 1838 he went into partnership with Achille Collas (1795-1859), who had just invented a machine to create miniature bronze replicas of statues. Together they started a business selling miniatures of antique statues from museums all over Europe, thus democratising art and making it more accessible to households. From 1843 they extended their scope by reproducing the work of living artists and also diversified by making enamelled household objects. With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 the firm briefly had to switch to cannon founding owing to the shortage of metals but resumed business afterwards. Following Barbedienne’s death in 1892, he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery and the firm was carried on by his nephew Gustave Leblanc until 1952.
Among the principal artists reproduced by the firm were Antoine Louis Barye and Auguste Rodin.
Meyer, Jonathan. Great Exhibitions, Antique Collectors club, (Woodbridge,UK), 2006; p. 276, H28.
Mestdagh Camille & Lecoules, Pierre. L’Ameublement d’art francais: 1850-1900, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 2010; pp.23, 120, 155, 161 and 179.