Exquisitely executed with juxtaposing matte and burnished gilding, this garniture de cheminéeis quintessential of Beurdeley’s superior output in the era of the Great Exhibitions. The present example, surmounted by a scantily-clad figure of Abundance, is almost certainly the garniture shown by the firm at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878 and subsequently at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Both exhibitions were a reputational coup for Beurdeley fils (dit Alfred II), at which he was ultimately recognized as ‘un artiste qui joint aux qualités de goût et aux conaissances de son père le talent plus rare’ (C. Mestdagh, L’ameublement d’art français: 1850-1900, Paris, 2010, p. 152). Beurdeley received substantial commissions for the American titans of the Gilded Age and his increasing popularity with America's industrialists was underscored by his participation in the Chicago World's Fair. Capitalizing on the ‘richissisme américain’, Beurdeley supplied various objects and furnishings for the renovation of the New York City mansion and Newport ‘cottage’ of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The model, possibly the present lot, was subsequently sold in the Vente Beurdeley at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6-9 May 1895, lots 93 (clock) and 109 (candelabra).