Fireplace Trim In Gilt And Patinated Bronze - Priapus And The Bachic Children - Circa 1880.

Placed under bacchanalian auguries, this Louis XVI Fireplace Set in ribboned Campan marble, patinated and gilded chiseled bronze, of an irresistible conceptual fantasy, is made up of three pieces. To know:
- an original terminal clock in the shape of a "neo-classical" sheath punctuated on its architectural profile with bacchanalian instruments with hectic sounds (basque drum, pan flute, oboe) with which the laughing mask of 'a Satyr.On the stepped base and directly above this high marmoreal pedestal are boldly positioned, captured in amusing or even titillating postures, two childish figures.
 Half sprawled on juicy bunches of grapes, a Satyreau with a greedy face rejoices, with amused gestures, at the reckless effrontery of his feast companion. Hoisted, an offering (bunch of grapes) held in her left hand, near the bust effigy of Priapus crowning the sheath, an intrepid little girl clings to the goat's ear of the pagan divinity: crowned with livestock vine branches, the bearded face of the Ancient Cantor of bacchanalian revelries comes alive with a plaintive and comical grin.
Modeled with genius and accuracy, this sculptural ensemble of singular formal freedom surrounds the white enameled dial of the clock set on its bezel with a frieze of bases/or ears of hops; embellished with garlands of polychrome country flowers, it mentions the hours and minutes in Arabic numerals. Starry, pearl and listel motifs complete the gilded bronze adornment of this unique watch piece resting on a straight base.
 -a Pair of Candelabra with two leafy arms of light called "Aux Enfants Bachiques", based on models (Paris, Mobilier National, Inv. 0A 5207 and 0A 5208) created around 1770 by the sculptor-ornamentists Claude-Michel , known as Clodion (1738-1814) and Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777). Base on a quadrangular molded base, each candelabra has an ingenuous childish figure forming a shaft. The head adorned with a flock of grape vines, the torso barred with a rope of vine leaves or a strip of leather, the hips girded with a lion's skin or a light fabric, a satyreau supported on a stump which parallels a little girl sitting on a small rocky mound. Both maintain sinuous, asymmetrical leafy branches punctuated with seeds; from their corolla, bloom bobèches and binets chiselled with laurel leaves, canals and a fine pearl. Much appreciated by enthusiasts, this model of candelabra perpetuated throughout the 19th century with tiny ornamental variations perfects the composition of this Fireplace Trim in which Bacchic fervor rhymes with joviality and games.
Inspired by the jubilant dreamlike universe fashioned in his time by Clodion, this cheerful watchmaking ensemble reveals the impetuous creativity of the Parisian Bronze Manufacturers of the 19th century, skilled in designing for a clientele similarly keen on carefree mythological fables, on the joyful and expensive festivities of works of art. singular animated - in his image - of ardent hedonists.
Enthroned in a Living Room, this Fireplace Trim placed under Bachic auguries invites in these times of uncertainty to succumb like in the past to the exhortation launched by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) in his prose poem "Enivrez-vous" (Le Spleen of Paris, XXXIII): "You must always be drunk, everything is there (..). To avoid feeling the horrible burden of Time which breaks your shoulders and bends you towards the earth, you must get drunk without respite .But of what? Wine, poetry, or virtue, as you wish (...) And, if sometimes, (..), you wake up, the intoxication already diminished or disappeared, (..) ask what time it is; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will answer you: It is time to get drunk."
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Marks and Signatures: Movement on its plate numbered: 1364 surmounted by the engraved initials "E.D" (art bronze manufacturer to look for); under the base of the pieces, identical initials.
Materials: Banded Campan marble; bronze with brown patina; gilded bronze; enamel and glass.
Dimensions:
Pendulum: H.: 59 cm;-L.: 26 cm;-Dr.: 20 cm;
Candelabra: H.: 39 cm;-L.: 26 cm;-Dr.: 17 cm.
Parisian work of good quality in Louis XVI style from the second half of the 19th century. Circa 1880.
In perfect condition.