Cassolette; Napoleon III; France, c. 1880.

Cassolette; Napoleon III; France, c. 1880.
Gilt bronze and cloisonné enamel.
Measurements: 24 x 26 cm (x2).
Cassolette, made in France around 1880 during the height of the Napoleon III style, whose design is a sublime example of the eclectic and refined taste that characterized the decorative art of the late nineteenth century. Executed in gilded bronze with cloisonné enamel applications, the piece reveals a high degree of technical mastery and a clear ornamental intention, both in its formal structure and in the decorative language it adopts, following the models promoted by the prestigious house of Alphonse Giroux, a famous Parisian marchand-mercier whose influence was decisive in the evolution of French decorative luxury during the first half of the 19th century.
The overall form of the cassolette, which is articulated on a finely molded mixtilinear contour base, supports a dynamic and richly balanced composition. Three putti figures, made of impeccably modeled gilded bronze, support an ovoid body of vibrant colors, entirely covered in cloisonné enamel. This enamel, arranged in intricate metal cells that delimit fields of vivid shades of turquoise, cobalt, mauve and gold, presents a decorative repertoire of oriental inspiration, with stylized floral elements intertwined with fretwork of Greco-Roman descent. The combination of these motifs is evidence of the passion of nineteenth-century French taste for the exotic and for the fusion of styles, which the Giroux house knew how to interpret so well in its creations, aimed at a cultured and aristocratic clientele.