menu
Menu
account_box
Categories
Contact
email Send us a message

Contact

phone By phone

+33 (0)1 42 25 12 79
Tue.-Sat., from 10am to 6pm
+33 (0)6 60 62 61 90
Everyday from 9am to 7pm.

email by Email

Adress: contact@marcmaison.com

share Let's get social

Languages
And also...
My selection
(14 Objects)

My selection (14 Objects)


 Gabriel VIARDOT (attributed to), Clock shaped as a pagoda with a Foo dog bronze, circa 1870-1880

Ref.13624
Gabriel VIARDOT (attributed to), Clock shaped as a pagoda with a Foo dog bronze, circa 1870-1880

This clock shaped as a pagoda is very likely a work from the hand of the Parisian furniture maker Gabriel Viardot (1830-1906), specialized in the creation of Chinese and Japanese inspired furntiure. It's during the 1867 World Fair where he discovered the Japanese Art, the Gabriel Viardot decided to devote himself to “Chinese-Japanese style furniture”. It’s with this production that he was awarded a silver medal at the World's Fair of 1878. His furniture was produced thanks to lacquered and carved panels sent directly from China or Japan and decorated with mother of pearl inlays from Tonkin. He enlivened his furniture with bronze decorations, of which he made all the designs by hand. In 1885, he participated in the World Exhibition of Antwerp where he obtained a gold medal. At this time, the shop employed 90 – 100 workers, sculptors or cabinetmakers, a lot of who were educated directly by Gabriel Viardot. Following this exhibition, Gabriel Viardot was promoted to the rank of Knight in the Legion of Honor (December 29 1885). In 1889, he was at the World Exhibition that took place in Paris and awarded a gold medal. He obtained the same award at the World's Fair of 1900. He creates here a beautiful clock taking the shape of an Japanese architecture with a pagoda roof, on the mount of which a slendid bronze dragon is wound. On the right a very big Foo dog also in bronze seems to be going down the roof and is holding itself on a pedestal adorned with Japanese scrolls next to the clock. The exceptional quality of the bronzes and the specific shape of the big Foo dog that we also find on furniture bearing the signature of the artist (see Ref 11321 for instance), prove the extreme attention given for the realization of this clock by Gabriel Viardot.

Dimensions:
Width: 51 cm
Height: 42 cm
Depth: 20 cm

Émile HÉBERT, École de Filles (Girls School), 1871

Ref.15583
Émile HÉBERT, École de Filles (Girls School), 1871

This bronze bas-relief was created in 1871 based on a model by the sculptor Émile Hébert. Émile Hébert (1828-1893) initially learned sculpture from his father, Pierre Hébert (1804-1869), and later from Jean-Jacques Feuchère (1807-1852). He exhibited regularly at the Salons between 1849 and 1893, and his works were showcased at World’s Fairs, including the 1855 Paris Exposition and the 1873 Vienna Exposition. The sculptor presents a surprising scene that functions as a humorous moral allegory. The bas-relief depicts the door of a girls’ school, forcibly opened (the bolt still protrudes from the lock) by a gaunt figure resembling Death. This figure holds a bow and arrows, likely taken from Cupid, who sits weeping, abandoned at the doorstep, as Death prepares to enter the building. The school is likened to a prison, as the girls are guarded behind bars. The moral of the scene is conveyed by an inscription: “AINSI SERONT TRAITES TOUTS [sic] RODEURS TEME/RAIRES” (“Thus will be treated all rash prowlers”). Cupid seems to symbolize young men who might attempt to loiter near the girls to court them, warned here of the fate that awaits them. The work is signed and dated along the lower edge. The Detroit Institute of Arts holds a terracotta version of this piece. Both in spirit and style, it is characteristic of Émile Hébert’s work. The theme of young girls facing Death recalls his statue Et Toujours ! Et Jamais ! (“And Always! And Never!”), a memento mori or depiction of lovers reunited in death, where fear intertwines with desire. This similarly enigmatic and richly interpretable piece is housed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Dimensions:
Width: 30 cm
Height: 36 cm
Depth: 8 cm