A FRENCH BRONZE AND PINK GRANITE VASE, BY HENRY DASSON, 1883

The French bronzier ébéniste Henry Dasson (1825-1896) mostly produced original pieces of furniture, gilt-bronze objets de luxe, and clocks. Dasson was first established from 1858 at 86, rue Saint Louis and it appears that he was able to expand his business quite rapidly as he was able to buy the workshops of the bronze worker Carl Dreschler in 1867. Later on in 1871, he bought the business of the bronzier Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen. It was at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle that Dasson’s work came to be known by the wider public and he attracted buyers such as the Rothschilds and Lady Ashburton, daughter of the French statesman the Duke of Bassano. Dasson also exhibited at the Union centrale des Arts décoratifs exhibition of 1882, and the following year he received the Légion d’honneur. When he closed his business, Dasson cleared the remaining of his stock in three large sales in 1894, 1,348 lots in total.