Center or planter. France, late 19th century.

Center or planter. France, late nineteenth century.
Gilded bronze.
Numbered on the back.
Measurements: 19,5 x 25,5 x 17,5 cm.

Decorative piece characteristic of the French taste of the late nineteenth century, designed to decorate tables, consoles or sideboards in bourgeois and palatial interiors.

The cup rests on a sculptural foot formed by a putto or naked child, modeled in an effortful attitude, as if supporting the weight of the vessel. This child figure, with an idealized anatomy and fluid movement, is naturally integrated into a base of scrolls and leaves of vegetal inspiration, creating a continuous composition between figure and ornament.

This type of piece was especially popular during the Napoleon III period and the Belle Époque, when French workshops produced abundant gilded bronzes of historical inspiration, taking up 18th century models adapted to 19th century tastes.