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Ferdinand Barbedienne, Museum Quality French Ormolu Champleve Enamel Clock Set

Creator: Ferdinand Barbedienne
Offered by: Solomon Treasure

Description
Ferdinand Barbedienne, A Museum Quality French Ormolu Champleve Enamel Three Piece Clock Set Garniture. Comprising of a clock and a pair of Candelabra, with the highest quality French ormolu / bronze and champleve cloisonne enamel. The clock in the form of an urn draped with laurel swags and with a pierced Vitruvian scrolled neck and domed cover with a scrolled boss and berried foliate finial on a plinth base hung with fruiting and foliate swags flanking tasseled drapery containing a white enamel dial with Roman cartouche numerals, on acanthus cast toupie feet, signed on the base of the urn F. Barbedienne. En suite with a pair of five-light candelabra with conforming vase-shaped fluted body with strapwork handles, on a square base decorated with a lambrequin on toupie feet, signed on the base of the candelabra F. Barbedienne, decorated overall with enamelled bands of arabesques and scrollwork and neo-Grecian motifs with palmettes and stylised anthemions. The clock dial is faintly signed: F. Barbedienne. This clock set is one the best works of Ferdinand Barbedienne. Clock: 22" high x 14" wide x 11" wide Candelabra: 25" high x 12" wide x 8" deep. For a similar example, please see: H. Williams, Enamels of the World 1700-2000, The Khalili Collections, London, 2009, p. 73. This magnificent clock garniture in champlevé enamel is in the gout grec style which was popularised in the reign of Louis XVI. The whole surface is beautifully enamelled in vibrant yellow, red,blue, purple, and green in the Neo-Grec revival style. There is in the Khalili Collection an almost identical clock garniture in opaque champlevé enamel. The garniture was originally part of the decoration in the William H. Vanderbilt house at 640 Fifth Avenue, New York. The interiors were designed by the Herter Brothers who used Barbedienne to supply bronzes which were either specifically commissioned or drawn from their extensive catalogue. The Khalili garniture was originally installed in the Vanderbilt library and formed part of the decoration that, according to Williams, sought to `fuse Greek and Roman themes with the impression of richness proper to a fully upholstered modern room'. Edward Strachan in his description of the interior, observed, `the mantel garniture ..is that of a phase of Marie Antoinette decoration which is sufficiently classical to go with a Greek environment'.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Origin:	France
Period:	19th Century
Materials:	Bronze, Enamel, Ormolu
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	1880
Styles / Movements:	Traditional, Napoleon
Incollect Reference #:	310933