A FRENCH ORMOLU, JASPERWARE AND BLUED-STEEL CARTEL D'APPLIQUE AND BAROMETER

The present cartel d'applique and matching barometer are based on a model attributed to the bronzier Pierre Gouthière (d. 1813), formerly at the Château de Saint-Cloud and now in the permanent collection at the Musée du Louvre. It is thought that Beurdeley and Henry Dasson were concurrently granted reproduction rights of the Gouthière model and that the patterns or ‘master models’ were sold in the Beurdeley sales 6-9 May 1896 after their workshops closed. The same model was almost certainly exhibited by the firm at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, as seen in an archival photograph of Beurdeley's extravagant stand (illustrated C. Mestdagh, L'ameublement d'art Français, 1850-1900, Paris, 2010, p. 128). The existence of a cartel clock of this model signed to the dial 'P. Sormani' but stamped to the bronze 'BY' suggests that Sormani bought the patterns from the Beurdeley sale and continued making the model (see A Private Collection Volume II, Sotheby's, New York, 19 April 2007, lot 28). For an example with Wedgwood plaques see C. Payne, Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, 2018, p. 210.