Alphonse Giroux
A Napoléon III Gilt-Bronze and Champlevé Enamel Centrepiece
£14,000
A Napoléon III Gilt-Bronze and Champlevé Enamel Centrepiece, in the Manner of Maison Alphonse Giroux. This exquisite centrepiece has a frosted glass...
Dimensions
Height: 53 cm (21 in)Width: 51 cm (21 in)
Depth: 35 cm (14 in)
Description
A Napoléon III Gilt-Bronze and Champlevé Enamel Centrepiece, in the Manner of Maison Alphonse Giroux.
This exquisite centrepiece has a frosted glass trumpet vase engraved with anthemions and supported by a neo-classical design open-work gilt-bronze and champlevé enamel stand, on an oval gilt-bronze base with attendant cherubs to the rim.
Champlevé enamelling, is similar to cloisonné in that the enamel is applied to discrete cells separated by metal. However, in champlevé, cells or troughs are cast into or cut away from the metal base, leaving a raised metal line between the cells which forms the outline of a design. The cells are then filled with molten or powdered glass and fired.
Date
Circa 1870
Origin
France
Medium
Enamel
Maison Giroux was founded by Francois-Simon-Alphonse Giroux in 1799 at 7 rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré, Paris. The store, specialising in small luxury goods and curiosities, expanded rapidly in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Francois oversaw the manufacture and design of small items of furniture until his death in 1848. He won the ‘Prix de Rome’ in 1825, and a silver medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1834.
Under the direction of Giroux’s sons, Alphonse-Gustave and André, the company flourished and became by the late 1860’s one of the most pre-eminent Parisian Maison de Haute Luxe (luxury stores).
In 1867, Ferdinand Duvinage, a cousin of Alphonse-Gustave and André, took over the management of the business alongside a Mr Harinkouck.
Bibliography:
Ledoux-Lebard, Denise. Les Ebénistes du XIX siècle, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 1984; pps. 223-30.
D. Kisluk – Grosheide. Maison Giroux and its ‚‘Oriental‚’ Marquetry Technique, The journal of the furniture history society, vol. XXXV, 1999, p. 147-172.