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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A beautiful and very fine pair of Louis XVI gilt bronze chenets attributed to Jean-Louis Prieut, both with a fluted urn with foliate finial, ornamented with berried laurel swags suspended from a pair of wrams heads on a fluted columnar base with draped swags headed by a guilloche band and laurel wreath 'nd below, the arm centered by a portrait medallion and laurel wreath below a flaming vase, the arm terminating in another handled urn with guilloche band Paris, date circa 1770-5 Height 39 cm, length 36 cm, depth 15 cm. each. Rail form of these very distinguished chenets with their Bacchic ram's headed urns, flaming vases, guilloche berried laurel swags compare closely with the work of the brilliant fondeur ciseleur and sculptor, Jean-Prieur (b. 1732-6 d. 1795). A related design of drca 1770, from the Odiot album attributed to Prieur with additional Bacchic putti, also features a ram's headed urn on a fluted columnar base, guilloche banding and mrel swags (illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Proschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen ", 1986, p. 199, pi. I. Furthermore a pair of wall-lights by Prieur in the]. P. Getty Museum, California features comparable flaming urns. (Ottomeyer, op.cit page . 173,pl 3.5.6). the pair also compare with another Neo-classical chenet with ram's headed urn and similar ornamentation in the des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, (illustrated op. dtp. 200, pL 3.14.8) as well as those of c. 1770, made for Queen Marie Antoinette's apartments at Chateau de Versailles. Jean Louis Prieur was one of the leading exponents of the Neo-classical style, who worked as a sculptor, bronze-caster designer and engraver. In addition to receiving Royal patronage from King Louis XVI, the comte d'Artois and prince de Conde, Prieur found favour abroad, especially with King Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski, who was king of Poland for Warsaw between 1766 and the early 1770's. Prieur initially studied sculpture at the Academie de Saint-Luc in Paris, 1765. Thefollowing year he was involved with the bronziers, Victor-Louis and Caffieri on the decoration of the royal castle at Warsaw, Prieur provided many of the designs for furniture objects and executed some of them. He also worked with Victor-Louis on the redecoration of Chartres CathedraL In 1769 Prieur was received as a maitre-fondeur-ciseleur, having been possibjy trained under his celibrated cousin, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain. He established his workshop at the Faubourg-St-Denis and subseq'ently styled himself sculpteur, ciseleur et doreur du Roi. Among many royal commissions, Prieur executed a number of important bronze clock cases, notably one featuring Peace and Abundance, 1770 (Hermitage m, St. Petersburg), made on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) and Marie-Antoinette. When Louis was crowned King of France, Prieur produced bronze ornaments for his coronation coach.In 1776 he supplied bronzes for two mantelpieces for the Palais-Bourbon. However m 1778 he suffered severe financial losses due to the mishandling of funds, which forced him to move to Enclos du Temple, where he continued to operate as a caster but on a much smaller scale. During the 1780's Prieur published a number of engravings of ornamental designs, including seven books featuring designs for furniture, vases and arabesques, he bed six plates of scrolling, foliate friezes entitled "Principes de Dessin" and also designed wallpapers for Jean Baptiste Reveillon's factory. The success of his bronzes and designs played a leading role in the creation and dissemination the Neo-classical style. http://www.richardreddingantiques.com/collection/gilt-bronze/louis-xvi-gilt-bronze-chenets-1 |
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