A NAPOLEON III ORMOLU AND CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL-MOUNTED ONYX JARDINIÈRE

The partnership between the sculpteur Eugène Cornu (d. 1875) - who owned marble and onyx mines in Algeria - and Viot, created luxurious objects and furniture incorporating marble and decorated with enamel and bronze, as well as vases and fountains in marble. Onyx, known since antiquity and used by both the ancient Egyptians and Roman civilisations, was first shown in modern times at the 1862 International Exhibition in London to great acclaim, having only been re-discovered in 1849 in Oran, Algeria.