REF NO : B77701

Ferdinand Barbedienne

A Pair of Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze Neoclassical Vases, Fitted As Lamps

France, Circa 1870

£8,800

A Pair of Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze Neoclassical Vases, Fitted As Lamps. Attributed to Ferdinand Barbedienne. Designed in the Néo-Grec style with scrolled...

Dimensions

Height: 46 cm (19 in)
Width: 17 cm (7 in)
Depth: 17 cm (7 in)
REF NO : B77701

Description

A Pair of Napoleon III Gilt-Bronze Neoclassical Vases, Fitted As Lamps. Attributed to Ferdinand Barbedienne.

Designed in the Néo-Grec style with scrolled swan handles and body relief cast with a procession of classical altar figures. Each raised on a waisted red marble plinth.

France, Circa 1870.

Approximate height with shades and fittings: 86 cm.

 

Date

Circa 1870

Origin

France

Medium

Gilt-Bronze

Ferdinand Barbedienne

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.

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