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219 - Athenian basin in finely chased, gilded or patinated bronze;…
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Estimate €10,000 - €15,000
Sale commission
Description
Athenian basin in finely chased, gilded or patinated bronze; the bowl with a gadrooned rim and a body friezed with palmettes supported by three swans with outstretched wings resting on flint hocks set on a shelf; empty base friezed with wide heart-shaped stripes. Empire period. H: 87.5 - D: 39.5 cm The "Athenian" model Ż, used as a washbasin or jardinire, was very fashionable at the end of the reign of Louis XV. The prototype remains the painting Ž La vertueuse Athnienne Ż by Joseph-Marie Vien in Strasbourg. The example we are proposing is directly related to the one painted in 1788 by Jacques Louis David in Les Amours de Pris et d'Hlne, a painting exhibited at the Muse du Louvre in Paris; the treatment was more or less directly inspired by the model of the Temple of Isis in Herculaneum in the Muse Archologique in Naples, published as an engraving by the comte de Caylus in the late 1750s. Known models made in the same spirit include those decorated with sphinxes replacing the swans in the Muse des Arts dcoratifs de Lyon and the Muse Nissim de Camondo from the Burat collection; finally, we should mention that an Athenian Ż identical to the one we are proposing, but on which the swans are in patina bronze, was sold at Christie's, Paris, on 8 November 2013, lot 243.
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About the sale Antique Paintings, Furniture and Works of Art from the 17th to the 19th century
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits:
SEBERT - Marc TOMASI
See original version (French)
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