Ref.03169
Three stands coming from an exceptional furniture set realized by Moses Michelangelo Guggenheim for the Palazzo Papadopoli in Venice, Italy

These three identical stands are made from the same solid body, tapered towards the bottom, which rests on a square base. Their main surface is a primarily sculpted panel. Foliage, weaving and floral trophies are sculpted in low relief on a textured background. In the middle is an egg-shaped element with decorative edges which shows a mask set against a motif of wrapped leather. This head is issued from the collection of grotesque motifs from the Renaissance and from the 16th century. The sides of the stands are decorated with a molding enlivened with floral motifs. In the ancient photographs that we show you above, we see perfectly well the described stools, in the Salone delle Quattro Porte du Palazzo Papadopoli. From one side of the room, they are situated on each side of the ceremonial china cabinet. They are therefore the support of large sculpted busts. From the other side of the room, they support vases with handles and are placed around the fireplace. The presentation of these photographs is completely unedited and exceptional. 

Ref.12995
Charles-Guillaume DIEHL, Pair of Pedestals in wood and Bronze, circa 1870

This pair of black lacquered tripod stands with numerous finely chiseled bronze ornaments was crafted by cabinetmaker Charles Guillaume Diehl (1811-1885) during the 1870s. The stands consist of a small tabletop surrounded by a serrated decorative edge, resting on three curving legs. These legs, highlighted with numerous gilded bronze ornaments, including lion paws at their lower ends, are connected by a stretcher. Three gilded bronze beasts support the tabletop, each standing on a wooden block adorned with bronze decorations on the sides and inside – including rosettes – that hold a turned wooden spindle finished with a bronze tip. The stretcher features additional bronze ornaments, including three spindles each holding a ring and lion mascarons between them. At the center of the stretcher, the cabinetmaker added a wooden pyramid also adorned with bronze. The base connecting the three legs includes gilded bronze ornaments at each end, as well as a central pinecone finial. Trained in marquetry, cabinetmaker Charles Guillaume Diehl (1811-1885) specialized in creating small pieces of furniture made of rare woods and adorned with refined and exceptionally luxurious bronze decorations. In the 1860s, Diehl began to design furniture in a more personal style, employing an ornamental vocabulary inspired by ancient Greek and Egyptian art, presenting a decorative grammar bordering on the fantastic, as seen here with the hybrid sphinxes. He participated in several World’s Fairs, including those of 1867, 1873 – where he won a progress medal – and Paris in 1878, where he was excluded from competition due to his prior successes. Diehl’s style evolved over time. Initially focused on furniture inspired by the 18th century, veneered with precious woods or in the Boulle marquetry style, his work underwent a transformation in the 1860s. From this period onward, Charles Diehl created furniture in a more distinctive style, blending neo-Greek and neo-Medieval ornamental vocabularies into a decorative grammar that pushed the boundaries of the fantastical. For the 1867 World’s Fair, he collaborated with renowned artists known for their imagination, such as sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910) and designer and ornamentist Jean Brandely (active between 1867 and 1873). During this event, he earned a silver medal for a series of caskets, including a Neo-Renaissance ebony casket adorned with bronzes and oxidized silver bas-reliefs featuring salamanders, as well as another in blue marble with gilded bronzes, purchased by Napoleon III for his cousin, Princess Mathilde. He also won a bronze medal, which he refused, for three pieces of furniture: a large table, an Etruscan-style bookcase, and the coin cabinet now housed at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Due to stylistic similarities with certain works by Emmanuel Frémiet, it appears that the meeting between the two artists – which later led to collaborations – played a key role in the stylistic evolution of Charles Diehl. This marked the beginning of a distinctive artistic output, highly recognizable within Parisian cabinetmaking of the second half of the 19th century.

Ref.11377
Very beautiful Japanese bedroom furniture in sycamore

These japanese bedroom furniture were made in the late 19th century of tainted sycamore in the taste of Gabriel Viardot or the production of the Maison des Bambous and includes 3 pieces : - A bed (H : 267,5 cm ; L : 157 cm; P : 208,5 cm) - A bedside table (H : 80,5 cm ; L : 60 cm ; P : 37,5 cm) - A wardrobe (H : 235 cm ; L :148 cm ; P : 53 cm). The bed is adorned with a very high headboard with Japanese open work friezes to which was hang a beautiful and colored tapestry in the same taste, adorned with an ibis in plants very characteristif of the Far-East. It also depicts an engraved and in relief decoration of asian motifs, bamboos and dragons, lightened up with inlaid element of mother-of-pearl. The bedside table is composed of an engraved slab with rolled edges, it opens with a small drawer with its key and a small cupboard having also its keys. The door is also adorned with inlaid mother-of-pearl. The asymmetrical wardrobe, as it is very often the case in the production of Japanese furniture, opens by a large mirror door, a drawer and a small cupbord. Its decoration in relief is lightened up with a mother-of-pearl inlaid scene depicting characters sat under a temple. One of the furniture mounts takes the shape of an ibis on a turtle shell.