Hand-painted gilt decoration simulating scales on a cobalt blue background
Ormolu-mounted with laurel leaf decoration at the base and glans on the lid socket
Napoléon III Period
Circa 1880
Bearing Sèvres Manufacture Mark
H 5,91 in. W 4,34 in. D 4,34 in
At the end of the seventeenth century and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, an unpredictable enthusiasm for gilded bronze invaded the interior decoration. The superiority of Paris, whose conception often takes place at the Court of Versailles, appears overwhelming and extends to the rest of France and the whole of Europe.
At the death of Louis XIV, gilt bronze will blossom under the influence of Louis XV with a subtle taste and purer than its elder. Undeniably the ormolu is at its peak under the reign of Louis XV. Whether it is furniture or any category of furnishing bronzes, all that is intended for Louis XV is a superb work, an art most often original and according to models chosen or created according to his own suggestions.
Under Louis XVI, the unifying element was Marie-Antoinette. Spendthrift, creative, demanding, she finds herself personally responsible for many golden bronzes designed for her and among the rarest of her time.
Nor should we neglect the influence that Versailles and Paris had on the great mansions in the provinces and throughout Europe. The craftsmen of Pa-ris enjoying a great fame, a movement of extraordinary enthusiasm leads the whole society and the decoration of Palaces and large mansions where the bronzes of furniture spread with brilliance.
Finally, under the Empire and the Restoration, the quality becomes exceptional both by the chisel and the gilding.