Alphonse Giroux Pair of Horned Vases France Circa...

Alphonse Giroux Pair of Horned Vases France Circa 1880 Enamel, Gilt bronze, Crystal Height : 36 cm ; Diameter : 18 cm Elegant pair of horn vases with flared necks in engraved crystal decorated with leafy interlacing and friezes of pearls. Removable, they are enclosed in circular bases in gilded bronze decorated with enamelled geometrical motifs, on which are seated on both sides two putti musicians. They rest on four feet. Biography : Alphonse Giroux et Cie, a famous store of tableware and curiosities located in Paris, 7 rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré, whose activity extends from the Consulate to the end of the Second Empire. This company was created by François-Simon-Alphonse, then managed from 1838 by his two sons Alphonse-Gustave (1810-1886) and André (1801-1879). At the Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie in 1834, the Giroux company, which specialized in the manufacture of refined objects, won a silver medal. Louis XVIII, then Charles X, bought gifts from Giroux for the "Children of France". Gradually making small pieces of furniture, they appeared for the first time in 1837 under the heading "Ebénistes" in the Almanach de Paris. However, it was Alphonse-Gustave who really expanded their business, as evidenced by the report of the jury of the 1839 Exhibition of Industrial Products, which awarded him a silver medal. It was then in the first rank of luxury shops. A. Giroux took part in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855, where he presented a linden-tree day-happiness, sculpted with a luxuriant naturalist decoration, which the Empress Eugenie bought for her palace in Compiègne. A. In 1857, Giroux transferred his store to 43, boulevard des Capucines and worked there until 1867, when he sold his house and his sign to his cousin Ferdinand Duvinage et Harinkouck.