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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A superb Louis XVI style garniture de cheminée comprising a gilt bronze and white marble clock and pair of candelabra signed on the white enamel dial A Beurdeley Fils and on the clock movement Lefebvre. The clock of eight day duration, the dial with inner black Roman numerals, gilded fleurs-de-lis and black Arabic numerals for the hours and minutes and outer red Arabic numerals for the 31 days of the month, with a pair of pierced gilt brass hands with sunburst pointers for the hours and minutes and a pair of blued steel pointers for the seconds and calendar indications. The clock movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half hour, with outside count wheel. The beautiful clock case by Alfred Beurdeley Fils, the dial with a guilloche bezel surmounted by a winged male putto to the left and winged female putto who offers roses to his lower right, both seemingly floating upon billowing clouds and garlands of rose surrounding the clock drum, with a further winged supporting putto to the lower right in front of a bow and quiver of arrows while to the left a pair of cooing doves and arrow protruding from the clouds, the whole upon a panelled rectangular white marble base with rounded ends ornamented with a pierced gilt scrolling and swagged frieze supported on toupie feet. The companion pair of candelabra, one formed as a male putto the other as a female, each seated on clouds and holding a candle branch formed as a ribbon-tied fluted cornucopia with a foliate and rose band at the top, the figures on a circular white marble pedestal mounted with ribbon-tied floral and fruiting swags on a gilt bronze circular base headed by a ribbon-tied laurel leaf band. Paris, date circa 1875-90 The clock: Height 65.5 cm, width 68cm, depth 23 cm. The candelabra: Height 45 cm, diameter of base 21 cm. each. Literature: Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p, 251, 4.6.22, illustrating a clock circa 1780 with dial signed Robin Hger with very similar case but with a dog symbolising loyalty between the surmounting putti while the third supporting putto below is to the left rather than to the right. Elke Niehüser, “Die Französische Bronzeuhr”, 1997, p. 121, colour pl. 195, illustrating an almost identical clock of circa 1780 with dial signed Lepaute. The clock is a copy of a well known French eighteenth century model attributed to La Rue; a drawing attributed to him circa 1780 in the Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris (illustrated Ottomeyer, ibid. p. 251, pl. 4.6.23), shows a working design for a very similar clock flanked by two very different candelabra upon a console. The surmounting pair of winged putto upon the clock drum derive from a group of two gilt bronze children playing with a dog positioned between them and placed upon the famous Bureau de Roi, begun by Jean-François Oeben in 1760, finished by Jean-Henri Riesener and delivered to Versailles in 1769. The same group, again with a dog, also appear surmounting a clock upon a Riesener cartonnier from the Rothschild Collection, Buckinghamshire (illustrated in Geoffrey de Bellaigue, “The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor”, 1974, pp. 434-439). The group is also repeated surmounting a longcase clock with case attributed to Riesener, circa 1780 in the Musée du Louvre. Alfred Beurdeley fils (1847-1919), like his father Alfred Beurdeley père (1808-82) excelled at copying Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture and bronzes. Both were given access by the Garde-Meuble to the collections at Versailles, the Petit and Grande Trianons and the Louvre where they were allowed to make moulds and replicas of 18th century furnishings. These copies were praised by the critics for the quality of their craftsmanship and by well wealthy collectors such as the Rothschilds, who were keen to recreate 18th century interiors. The 19th century witnessed a great revival of past historical styles but due to the inevitable shortage of original works, Beurdeley and others met the demand by recreating high quality revival pieces. The firm was one of the very finest Parisian ébénistes and bronziers of the day, whose quality of gilt bronze work is often indistinguishable from earlier prototypes. The famous Beurdeley dynasty began with Jean Beurdeley (1772-1853) and was continued by his son and then grandson. After serving in the Napoleonic army, Jean opened a small antique shop in the Paris Marais district and in 1830 bought the Pavillon de Hanovre, 28 Blvd. des Italiens, which was to be the firm’s principal gallery until 1894. The business was expanded by his son Alfred Beurdeley père, who continued dealing in antiques and works of art and as a supreme ébéniste specialised in reproductions of 17th and 18th century furniture. His clients included Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie. He was first assisted and then succeeded by his illegitimate son Alfred Beurdeley fils, who took over the workshop in 1875. The latter tended to specialise in luxury 18th century style furniture and bronzes and as one of the finest manufacturers of his day was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878 and in 1893 was appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. The death of his wife in childbirth 1894 resulted in a dramatic change of direction. In 1875 Beurdeley retired; he closed down the Pavillon de Hanovre and began selling his vast stock of furniture and bronzes in a series of sales, 1895-1900. He also sold his impressive collection of 18th century French drawings in 1905, a fine collection of architectural drawings to the Stieglitz Museum and an enormous collection of Chinese porcelain in 1906 and spent his remaining years in pursuit of fine French 19th century drawings. The movement is signed Lefebvre, which is most probably the same Parisian firm of clockmakers that registered a patent in 1851 for varying methods of making watch and clock springs and another in 1862 for the reassembly of alarms. Lefebvre are recorded at both rue du Four St. Germain and at rue St. Antoine, Paris in 1850, then at rue de Rivoli in 1860 (the same address as François Lefebvre). The firm then continued at that address for the next forty years, known as Lefebvre Frères in 1880 and Lefebvre Fils Aîné in 1900. |