A Gilt and Patinated Bronze Psyche de Table Attributed to Martin Biennais

A Gilt and Patinated Bronze Psyche de Table Attributed to Martin Guillaume Biennais (1746–1843)
French. Circa 1805.
Measurements
Height: 21 1/2" (54.6 cm); Width: 20" (50.8 cm); Width with candle arms extended: 27" (68.6 cm)
Research
Of gilt and patinated bronze. The oval mirror plate enclosed within a gilt bronze leaf molded frame with guilloche border, held at each side by a patinated bronze support comprised of two classical female herm uprights with acanthus decoration to the front and paw foot trestle base, from which issues a candlearm on each side.

Provenance:
The important collection of Anne H. Bass at 960 Fifth Avenue, New York

This psyche de table, or dressing mirror, belongs to a small group of gilt-bronze herm-supported mirrors made by the goldsmith to the First Consul, Martin Guillaume Biennais (1746–1843), which were, in large part, produced for the Imperial household. Biennais’ reputation was firmly established in the first years of the nineteenth century. He famously provided Napoleon Bonaparte with an elaborate necessaire de voyage for his expedition to Egypt in the spring of 1798 and after the latter became emperor, took Biennais as his goldsmith. Biennais “established an extensive manufactory of his own” and continued to provide the Imperial family with “large quantities of furniture, writing cases, toilet cases and such objects.”

Of the aforementioned group of dressing mirrors to which this example belongs, each supports a cheval-style mirror, or psyche, on classical female herm supports. Uniquely, the present piece is the only example to bear an oval-shaped mirror as well as a supporting structure of patinated bronze, rather than being entirely of gilt-bronze.

The attribution of this mirror to Biennais is affirmed not only by its correspondence to these examples, but also by a direct link connecting the paw feet of the stretcher to several design drawings in what is known as the ‘Biennais album,’ preserved in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. This group of drawings was furnished by the architect Charles Percier to Biennais, and is described by its handwritten title as containing Dessins originaux d’orfèvrerie et de meubles ornés de bronzes, provenant de l’atelier de Biennais, orfèvre de Napoleon Ier, et attribués à Percier’.

Full research report available on request.