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Lot 42 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU EWERS
EARLY 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE MODEL BY ANTOINE-ANDRE RAVRIO
Closed9 July 2009
Price Realised
GBP 7,750
More Information
Specialist note
The slender and elongated shape of these ewers, with their griffin handles accentuating deeply scrolled spouts, has been linked to the bronziers André-Antoine Ravrio (1759-1814) and Claude Galle (1759-1815), both of whom flourished during the Empire.
An 1812 portrait by Henri-François Riesener depicting Ravrio standing by a griffin-headed ewer closely related to the present lot, is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 690, fig. 16), while further related examples include a pair of ormolu ewers from the Wildentstein Collection, sold at Christie's, London 14-15 December 2005, lot 368, and another attributed to Ravrio, the body similarly applied in relief with a winged maiden, offered at Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 220. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel illustrate a related pair probably by Galle (Ibid, p. 364, fig. 5.12.6), while A. de Gourcuff illustrates a further pair in (ed.), Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121.
An 1812 portrait by Henri-François Riesener depicting Ravrio standing by a griffin-headed ewer closely related to the present lot, is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 690, fig. 16), while further related examples include a pair of ormolu ewers from the Wildentstein Collection, sold at Christie's, London 14-15 December 2005, lot 368, and another attributed to Ravrio, the body similarly applied in relief with a winged maiden, offered at Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 220. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel illustrate a related pair probably by Galle (Ibid, p. 364, fig. 5.12.6), while A. de Gourcuff illustrates a further pair in (ed.), Pavlovsk: The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, p. 121.