Pair Of Mirrors In Chiselled And Gilded Bronze With The Mask Of Apollo. Circa 1880

Lovely Pair of Scalloped Shaped Mirrors with Oval Wings executed in gilded bronze harmoniously chiseled in fine or half-relief of onemental motifs of Rocaille inspiration. Shells with wavy edges, shell-palmettes, volutes, florets and leafy acanthus run through its openwork frame underlined by friezes with motifs of water leaves, branches intertwined with stylized shrubs. Pretty, flowery garlands, sprigs of holly branches amplify their elegant form centered in the upper part of a cartouche welcoming the radiant mask in the effigy of a childish mask of Apollo-tutelary divinity presiding over the Harmony of the World, to poetic or musical inspiration. In their lower part, blooms in button, under a small dice, a pomegranate. Coiled in a crossette of foliated acanthus, two graceful Putti figured seated, now on their knees a Lyre for one and an ancient draped Vase - discreet allusions to Apollo Cytharede or dispenser of Benefits from Greco-Roman mythology - animate their sides. Charming variation on the theme of Musicality - closely associated with the mores of society in the 19th-20th centuries - this seductive Pair of Mirrors is, by its ornamentation both prolix and balanced, of these inventive creations produced to good effect in the 1880s. by Parisian art and furnishing bronze manufacturers. Formal softness, prettiness of its neo-Regency motifs stitched with a "XIXIth" touch (flower garlands, holly, cherubs, etc.), make these mirrors designed as pendants so seductive. Placed in particular above candlesticks, framing a headboard or a dresser, they will lavish luster and exquisite elegance on these pieces of furniture. Parisian work in the neo-Regency style from the last third of the 19th century. Circa 1880 Materials: gilded bronze; damn. Dimensions: H.: 43.5 cm; - L.: 29 cm - Depth: 3 cm. Beautiful State. There are a few pitting marks on the back of one of its mirrors.