Rare Scale Model Of A Ceremonial Carriage From The End Of The 18th-beginning Of The 19th Century

Rare Scale Model of Ceremonial or Travel Carriage in painted wood decorated with carved and gilded ornamental elements with motifs of stylized Cornucopias and winged Sphinxes and gilded bronze ornaments symbolizing the Four Cardinal Points. Coat of arms with shield on the door and Imperial Crown topping the Pavilion of the body of this precious reduction of horse-drawn carriage mounted "A flèche". Probably French work from the last third of the 18th century-Beginning of the 19th century. Circa 1790-1810.
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A very intriguing piece of Arts and Crafts:
There are objects whose antiquity, singularity or even the unusual, the outdated destination or even the symbolic dimension veiled in mysteries by time challenges, intrigues, questions, leaves the amateur, the collector dreaming. This is the case of this rare scale model of a Ceremonial or Travel Carriage in carved wood painted in polychrome with gold highlights enhanced with small gilded bronze ornaments. Probably made between 1790-1810 by a worker or an aspiring Journeyman attached to one of the workshops of the Master Saddlers-Coachmakers of Yesteryear, it displays both by the elegance of its silhouette, the sobriety of its painted decoration and by the weighting of its sculpted ornamentation the characteristics of the horse-drawn carriages designed during this period of great Revival of French Coachwork,
Very high from the ground, its body of a beautiful rounded shape called "boat" is mounted on two "arrows" with swan-neck lines connecting the trains of the vehicle whose suspension is ensured by four "C" springs - called "A la Polignac" - which succeeded those named "A la Dalesme" - connected by brown leather slats. The train, the wheels and their hubs highlighted with red and black edging. At the front and rear of the body, are respectively seated, braided with a generous braid with sculpted fringes, the seat with a cover called "A la Française" of the coachman and a small platform on a spacer intended for the footmen attached to persons of quality.
Equipped with a domed roof in the shape of a small dome painted in a burgundy red imitating the leather with a nail border covering the roofs of these ancestral horse-drawn carriages, the carriage is over its entire body covered with a background painted in sober and becoming beige ochre tones on which stand out, elegantly highlighted with gold, the frets, the pearls framing the door panel, the glass quarter panels trimmed on their internal face with a braid of ecru fringed cotton.
Its corner uprights called "corner feet", beautifully worked, are silhouetted on their profiles by a bundle with leafy edges or stylized ribboned Horns of Plenty topped with projecting caryatids in the effigy of crouching winged Sphinxes. Simulating the fine and delicate ornaments in cut silver or gilded copper adorning the galleries of Imperials of the life-size carriages, a molded cornice with frieze motifs of a string of eggs and heart-shaped stripes encircles the body in its upper part. Decorated at its corners with four small sheathed busts of winged women - symbolizing the Four Cardinal Points - in gilded bronze, it is topped with an Imperial Crown with a Greek cross. This insignia of power and dignity is found on the head of the Coat of Arms with shield - unidentified because a neophyte in the very specialized field of heraldry - staring in fine relief the door panels of this scale model of a Carriage commissioned by a mysterious dignitary invited to display himself during the magnificent solemnities (princely ceremonies, galas, embassy entrances, etc.) marking this historical period (1790-1810) rich in high and memorable deeds.
Typology of the horse-drawn vehicle, formal sobriety of the body with unified coloring, rejection of the sculpted ornamental decoration on the edges typical of the Louis XVI taste in this area, iconographic repertoire - sphinxes, sheathed female busts - favored in the French decorative arts of the end of the 18th century and the Directoire-Empire period with a strong symbolism, emblematic crown at the top and heraldry "princely" plead in favor of both the dating and the interpretation suggested with regard to this scale model of a ceremonial Carriage.
An Object, a Piece as rare as it is precious, whose authenticity will appeal to Collectors and Horse-drawn History Enthusiasts.
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Materials: Wood (lime?) carved, painted and gilded; Ferrous alloy and gilded bronze; leather, textile and glass.
Dimensions: H.: 26 cm; -L.: 46 cm; -Pr.: 16 cm
Anonymous French work from the last third of the 18th century - Early 19th century. Louis XVI-Directoire style, circa 1790-1810.
Good general condition given the age of the piece. Restoration in accordance with the rules of the art for this type of collector's item: wood treated by consolidation and gluing; painting, after dusting, refixed in accordance with the polychromy then protected by a protective wax; reshaping of the leather straps; recasting in gilded bronze of two iconographic elements decorating the corners of the pavilion.