BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, DESIGNED BY LOUIS-CONSANT SÉVIN, THE ENAMEL BY CLAUDIUS POPELIN, PARIS, LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

The present lot is exemplary of the luxurious and distinctive taste of the Second Empire, characteristic of a renewed interest in classical motifs, naturalism and both Roman and Etruscan embellishment.

The Second Empire also ushered in an emphasis on ornamentation and opulence in addition to innovation. The present lot is no exception and represents a unique collaboration between the great bronzier Ferdinand Barbedienne, designer Louis-Constant Sévin (d. 1892) and enameller Claudius Popelin (1825-1892). The trio were recorded as working together in 1867, coinciding with that year’s Exposition Universelle in Paris. An extremely similar pair of vases were shown at this exhibition and were hung with identical silvered and gilt-bronze mounts in the form of flowers, shells and stylized acanthus leaves. These vases and their respective pedestals are characteristic of Sevin’s designs for Barbedienne during the 1860s, where he was head of design. Each vase incorporated comparable enamel portrait roundels inspired by the Limousin artists of the Renaissance by Popelin. The portraits of Roman and Venetian women are exemplary of Popelin's early technique whereby the intense colors, including a violet of his own invention, are enhanced by the brilliance of silver foil.

'En cette même année [1867], Barbedienne était venu trouver Claudius Popelin et lui avait demandé deux émaux d'allure décorative. C’est le premier essai que le grand bronzier fit de l'émail peint. Popelin composa pour lui deux figures de femmes à la manière italienne: Rome et Venise. Elles furent montées sur la panse de deux grands vases en rouge antique, dont les anses étaient formées de chimères ailées. Constant Sévin en avait fait le modèle.’ (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1893, Tome 10, Period III, pp. 62-63)

A pair of vases on similarly decorated rouge griotte marble columns - possibly those exhibited at the 1867 Expositio - were recorded in the Collection of John T. Martin, the great American art collectors with an expansive townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, New York (illustrated in Artistic Houses). The vases and pedestals were subsequently sold upon his death and more recently appeared at auction at Christie’s, London 30 September 2015 lot 250 (£122,500). For a further discussion on the collaboration between Barbedienne and Sévin, see Champier, V., Revue des Arts Décoratifs, 1888-89 (1889), Paris, p. 174.