Object Description
This is a superb antique French 2nd Empire mahogany bookcase with fabulous ormolu mounts, dating from the last quarter of the 19th Century.
It has been crafted from flame mahogany and decorated with fine Egyptian revival Neo- Classical ormolu mounts consisting of Cariatide angles, bronze male masks wearing the nemes headress, palmette escutcheons and laurel wreaths encircling torches.
It features a pair of central brass grill fronted doors flanked by a pair of panelled doors and they each enclose a solid oak interior with five adjustable shelves.
The cabinet is raised on on tapering sqaure legs that terminate in decorative ormolu lion’s paw feet.
It is a lovely bookcase which will blend very well with contemporary interiors.
Complete with working locks and keys.
Condition:
In excellent condition having been cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 189 x Width 188 x Depth 45
Dimensions in inches:
Height 74.4 x Width 74.0 x Depth 17.7
Empire style,
is an early-19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts followed in Europe and America until around 1830.
The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon’s leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States and to the Regency style in Britain. The previous style was called Louis XVI style, in France.
The Empire style was based on aspects of the Roman Empire. It is the second phase of neoclassicism which is also called “Directoire”, after a goverment system.
Furniture typically had symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires.
The furniture was made from heavy woods such as mahogany and ebony, imported from the colonies, with dark finishes often with decorative bronze mounts. Marble tops were popular as were Egyptian motifs like sphinxes, griffins, urns and eagles and the Napoleonic symbols, the eagle, the bee, the initials “I” and a large “N.”
Gilded bronze (ormolu) details displayed a high level of craftsmanship.
Ormolu – (from French ‘or moulu’, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as ‘gilt bronze’.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt..
Our reference: A1113a