Pair of urns. France c. 1800

Pair of Directory urns; c. 1800.
Red marble and gilded bronze.
Measurements: 48 cm (height x 2).
Pair of decorative goblets entirely made in mercury gilt bronze and decorated with fine chiseled floral theme, garlands of ovals and foliage. Each with a separate lid, on a wavy Vitruvian frieze pierced with leaves and berries, with a Bacchic frieze depicting classical maidens holding flowering garlands, on a pedestal base with Mercury's mask on the front, on a stepped base with leaves and berries, on rounded legs. These types of 19th century bronze tabletop objects were key pieces in decoration and interior design, as well as symbols of social status and refinement. Elaborately crafted and often adorned with artistic motifs, they perfectly reflected the bourgeois taste of the time, which popularized the production of such pieces as symbols of status and elegance.