Pair Of Bookends - Silver Bronze - Pierrots - Max Le Verrier - Period: Art Deco

Rare and very elegant pair of silver bronze bookends entitled: "Pierrots".
(Max Le Verrier commercial catalogue, 1925, N° 466 Page 18, for the same model).

These perfectly symmetrical figures are enhanced by a "Portor" marble base.
Portor is a very rare marble that has been used in Italy and Corsica since Antiquity. 
It is characterised by a dark black colour with a very yellow vein, a sort of golden sinuosity. 

It seems that it owes its name to the town of Porto Venere on the coast of Genoa, where Louis XIV had the quarries exploited for the decoration of Versailles. 
This marble was widely used in the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries, particularly for Art Deco creations, on beautiful furniture, objets d'art and fireplaces.  
Description

Period: Art Deco 
Circa: 1930
Dimensions : Total height : 20,5cm 
                      Bronze height : 17,5cm
                      Base dimensions : Height : 3cm x Width : 9cm x Depth : 6,5cm
Signature : M. Le Verrier

In 1926, Louis Octave Maxime Le Verrier (publisher and founder) opened his own foundry, founding pieces for a wide range of French sculptors of the time, including Pierre Le Faguays, Marcel Bouraine, Janle, Denis and Charles.... 
He gained a reputation for the very high quality work, exceptional detail and precision of the items produced by his company. 
Interestingly, the foundry did not cast in bronze as is generally assumed, as the Verrier felt that he could achieve better detail using his own proprietary blend of metals. 

Alongside running his foundry, Le Verrier continued to sculpt his own creations and in the 1920s he became famous for his studies of women as part of the Art Deco era's fascination with the ideal female form. 

His female figures are characterised by supple athleticism and perfect symmetry.
Le Verrier continued to work throughout the 1930s - receiving a medal of honour at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937 - before being arrested in 1944 for his resistance activities against the Nazi-backed regime. 
He reopened his studio after the Second World War and continued to sculpt until his death in 1973

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