ATTRIBUTED TO FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE AND GEORGES-EMILE-HENRI SERVANT, THE BRONZES AFTER THE ANTIQUE AND CAST FROM MODELS BY EMILE HERBERT, PARIS, 1875-1880

The history of Barbedienne is well-known, however, Georges-Emile-Henri Servant was esteemed in the period and lauded for his contributions to the 1867 and 1878 expositions universelles. By 1887, Paris-based Maison Servant was established at 137, rue Vieille-du-Temple, specializing in Egyptian and Greek-revival pieces. The firm was principally a fabricant de bronzes employing sculptors, ciseleurs, doreur décorateurs, but most importantly it was an emailleur. The Bulletin de l’Union Centrale described the firm’s production as, '[a] Grand choix de modèles varies d’une parfait composition et d’une execution remarquable’ (No. 24, 1er Août 1876, p. 241). Servant was equally lauded in 1878 for the innovation of his designs, largely ‘aiding the Exhibition with the ‘supremacy of his art’ (The Illustrated Catalogue of the Paris International Exhibition, 1878, p. 64).
This exquisite table marks a confluence of three of the period’s great artisans - Emile Hebert, pre-eminent sculptor, Georges-Emile-Henri Servant, decorateur, and the illustrious and prolific fondeur, Ferdinand Barbedienne. The triumphant design, overseen by Servant, is supported by figures of fluting satyrs, displaying the artist’s genuine interest and study of historically-important archaeological discoveries during the Grand Tour. In fact, the figures derive from a 1st century A.D. marble herm figure unearthed in the Lazio region near Rome in the late 18th century and now preserved in the British Museum (No. 1805,0703.26). The original exhibition table, shown in Paris in 1878, is almost certainly the example preserved at the Musée d’Orsay (OAO 1389), featuring a stretcher crowned by a vase in bas-relief based on late Hellenistic gold work.