Pair of 19th Century French Gilt Bronze Sphinx Chenets

This dynamic pair of French bronze chenets with putti and sea dragons was crafted circa 1850. The dore Rococo bases are full of life, with golden ...

This pair of brightly silvered bronze chenets are from France (circa 1900), in the style of Louis XVI, as noted by the presence of laurel leaf festoons and pots au feu finials. They were used in well-appointed homes, not only to decorate the front of the fireplace, but to prevent burning logs from rolling onto priceless rugs, should they break free of the fire. Often seen in natural wrought iron, or gilded in gold (in finer homes), it is unusual to see them in silvered bronze. Each finial has two pots au feu of different sizes and orientation adorned with a laurel swag. The larger fire pot...

Each with a recumbent winged sphinx with scrolling foliate arabesques to their back, upon a bow-ended rectangular gadrooned plinth, the frieze with a panel applied with entrelacs, on fluted toupie feet. Several models of chenets with sphinx exist, dating from the 1780s. An example with winged sphinxes with headresses and with female mask centering the frieze, attributed to either Pierre Gouthière or Pierre-Philippe Thomire, exists in several versions in the Louvre, Versailles and the Cleveland Museum of Art (see H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.I, p.276, fig. 4.11.14.). This model is based on a drawing by the architect François-Joseph Bélanger in the Bibliothèque Nationale, illustrated op. cit., fig. 4.11.13. Another type of sphinx chenet...

Beautiful pair of Napoleon III gilt and chiseled bronze andirons depicting putti in a rocaille decor and floral garlands. French work CIRCA 1850. Very good condition.