Live Auction 7812Belgravia and Lake Geneva - Two European Collections
Christie’s roundel
Lot 206

A PAIR OF FRENCH BLUE-PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT ATHENIENNES

CIRCA 1860

Closed14 May 2009

Price Realised

GBP 6,500

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A PAIR OF FRENCH BLUE-PAINTED AND PARCEL-GILT ATHENIENNES
CIRCA 1860
EACH WITH CIRCULAR BRêCHE VIOLETTE MARBLE TOP ABOVE A FRIEZE CARVED WITH ENTWINED DOLPHINS, SUPPORTED BY THREE RAM'S-HEADED MONOPODIAE JOINED BY A CIRCULAR STRETCHER, TERMINATING IN PIEDS-DE-BîCHE, ON A CONCAVE-SIDED TRIANGULAR BASE, LACKING ONE SIDE OF BASE, INSCRIBED '5441, 9269, M4887'
19 in. (48.5 cm.) diam.; 36¾ in. (92 cm.) high (2)

The Espirito Santo Collection, sold Christie's London, 12 December 1996, lot 60.

Specialist note

Similar atheniennes can be seen in an engraving by J.J. Filipart, published in 1765 entitled La vertueuse Athénienne. Originally taken from a painting by Joseph-Marie Vien, executed in 1763 and called Prêtesse qui brûle de l'encens sur un trépied. Eberts, who published the engraving, produced his own tripod table a decade later, naming it Athénienne, after Filipart's curious title. (S. Eriksen, Early Neo-classicism in France London 1974p. 385, pl. 370).