True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha

True Connoisseurship: The Collection of Ezra & Cecile Zilkha

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 7. A PAIR OF EMPIRE GILT AND PATINATED BRONZE JARDINIERES NOW FITTED AS CENTRE TABLES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY.

A PAIR OF EMPIRE GILT AND PATINATED BRONZE JARDINIERES NOW FITTED AS CENTRE TABLES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Auction Closed

November 20, 10:09 PM GMT

Estimate

100,000 - 200,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

A PAIR OF EMPIRE GILT AND PATINATED BRONZE JARDINIERES NOW FITTED AS CENTRE TABLES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY


with later red porphyry tops

height 34 in.; width 41 1/2 in.; depth 25 1/2 in.

86.5 cm; 105.5 cm; 65 cm

Collection of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Sotheby's New York, 19 November 1993, lot 72
A. Renner, Mobilier de metal, de l’Ancien Régime à la Restauration, Paris 2009

This pair of jardinières or planters, which can also stylishly be used as centre tables by adding a marble or porphyry top, is an extremely rare survival of the genre. In the French decorative arts, metal furniture is more of an exception and often reduced to the identified productions of the Southern French manufacture of wrought iron and metal consoles and steel country furniture from the end of the 18th century. This pair of jardinières, however, transcends this category.


With a metal frame, decorated with large patinated plates adorned with rich gilt-bronze ornamentation, these jardinières herald a new aesthetic. Allowing for the interplay between curves and straight lines and highlighting the relief on the large gilt-bronze mounts, this aesthetic approach arguably not only seeks to emphasise the metallic aspect of the piece, in this case the use of bronze, but probably also serves to highlight the practicality of the jardinières. Whereas metal is able to accommodate heavy compartments filled with soil and plants, a wooden structure would not likely be able to support the piece in the same way.


A console jardinière with great similarities to the present pair was offered at Kohn, Paris on 23 June 2014, lot 27 [Fig. 1].


Jardinières of wood and bronze in a variety of shapes and sizes triumphed in the interiors in the Restauration period, with the Duchess de Berry commissioning pieces from her appointed cabinetmaker, Félix Rémond.