A Pair of Rare 'Neo-Grec' Bronze Torchère Stands, Attributed to Ferdinand Barbedienne

A Pair of Rare 'Neo-Grec' Gilt and Patinated Bronze Torchère Stands, Attributed to Ferdinand Barbedienne.

French, Circa 1870.

Each torchere has an inset marble top with suspended chains, raised on a fluted column cast with acanthus and supported by a tripod base cast with arabesque scrolls and united by a concave stretched and put down on paw-cast feet.

Designs in the 'Neo-Grec' or Greek style modelled after the antique featured prominently in  Barbedienne's submissions to the 1855 Paris Exposition Universelle and throughout the firms production.   This rare pair of torchere stands with their fine casting and modelling are typical of the high quality work Barbedienne produced at this time.  

Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) was the inspiration and driving force behind one of the most important French art foundries. He pioneered the use of mounts and, more commonly, bronze sculpture including figures and animals. Barbedienne produced catalogues of bronze reproductions of Greek and Roman classical sculpture and experimented with champlevé and cloisonné enamels during the third quarter of the century. Barbedienne exhibited several pieces of furniture at the 1855 Paris Exhibition including an ormolu mounted oak dressing table and an ormolu mounted ebony veneered bookcase. Both pieces were executed in his favoured Renaissance revival style for furniture. Furniture with mounts signed by Barbedienne is extremely rare.

The Barbedienne foundry handled the casting of numerous national monuments and architectural schemes. Ferdinand Barbedienne himself also took an active part in the promotion of contemporary sculpture and became one of the founders for David d'Angers' medallions as well as much of Rude's sculpture.

His signature varied from hand written capitals to stamp in capitals, usually 'F. Barbedienne, Fondeur' or 'BARBEDIENNE PARIS'.

In 1839 Barbedienne collaborated with the inventor Achille Collas who had succeeded in enlarging and reducing works of art to arbitrary sizes by a simple mathematical calculation, allowing the accurate reduction of classical and contemporary marbles for the purpose of reproduction in bronze. In 1850 Barbedienne was commissioned to furnish the Paris town hall for which he was awarded with the médaille d'honneur at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1855.

Bibliography:
Barbedienne, Ferdinand. Catalogue des Bronzes d'art 1886.
Fonderie d'art Français: Val d'Osne, Fonderie de Tusey, Antoine-Louis Barye, Fonderie Rudier, Charles Crozatier, Ferdinand Barbedienne' Livres Groupe, (Paris), 2010.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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