A fine Empire ormolu and patinated bronze-mounted green granite chimneypiece circa 1805, stamped Thomire a Paris

the rectangular shelf above a frieze  fitted with affronted griffons at the corners flanked by atheniennes linked by floral garlands centered by cinquefoil, each swag centered by a medallion depicting Ganymede and Zeus, Hercules and the Lion, Zeus, and Hebe and the Eagle, respectively, raised on term figures cast with winged Egyptian torsos continuing to scrolling acanthus leaves entwined with ormolu serpents.

Général Le Marois, rue de Grammont, Paris

Collection of Duc de Caraman, Château de Lonray, sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, June 14-15, 1981, lot 98

With French & Co., New York

Anonymous California collection, sold, Christie's, New York, May 23, 1995, lot 247

An identical chimneypiece by Thomire was installed in the principal salon of the Empress' apartments at the Château de Compiègne, a room which was decorated by Percier and Fontaine.  A console table by Thomire of virtually identical overall design is in the Louvre.  It is fitted with an identical ormolu border beneath the top, identical frieze mounts, lacking the circular medallions on the present lot, and is raised upon identical term figures.  Executed in thuyawood, it was one of the objects given as security by Thomire in 1807 in order to obtain a government loan.  Unable to repay the loan, the table was retained by the State and placed in the appartements des Enfants de France at the Tuileries, and later in the grand salon of the Empress at Compiègne where it complemented the matching chimneypiece (see, D. Alcouffe, et al, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Vol. I, Dijon, 1993, no. 105, pp.308-309.

Another chimneypiece with the same frieze of garlands and atheniennes was delivered by Thomire in 1804 for the salon of Prince Eugène de Beauharnais in his hôtel on the rue de Lille in Paris; this is now the German Embassy.

GÉNÉRAL LE MAROIS

Jean Léonor François Comte Le Marois (1776-1836) was a trusted ally of Napoleon I for whom he acted as aide de camp and was also a witness to the marriage of Napoleon and Josephine on March 8, 1796.  Noted for heroism at Austerlitz and at Iéna, it was Général le Marois who, after the campaign in Italy, was given the honor of returning to Paris with the colors seized from the enemy.

In 1806 Général Le Marois purchased an hôtel in Paris at the intersection of rue de Grammont and the Boulevard des Italiens.  An inventory taken after his death mentions a number of consoles and columns executed in green granite; it does not list the chimneypieces which were considered, at the time, to be part of the building itself.  Many of the decorations and fixtures in the house were moved to the Château de Lonray (Orne) where they descended in the family.