Édouard LIÈVRE (1828-1886) A display cabinet,... Lot 148

Édouard LIÈVRE (1828-1886) A display cabinet, Paris, circa 1880. In the Sino-Japanese style, in molded and carved rosewood. The front opens onto a glass door, decorated with a frieze and fine plates in delicately chased, openwork and gilded bronze with an old gold patina, decorated with flowers and foliage. and foliate scrolls. The door reveals two glass shelves and a mirror at the back. The display case is topped by a scrolled pediment in which is inlaid a griotte red marble plaque. It stands on a base decorated with gadroons and carved motifs inspired by Chinese furniture. With key. Small refixed element on the right side of the scrolled pediment. H. 130 W. 92 D. 45 cm Provenance: Eugénie de Coëhorn collection (1875-1946) Edouard Lièvre moved to Paris around 1848 and joined the studio of painter Théodore Valerio, before moving to the studio of Thomas Couture. of Thomas Couture. His inspiration was initially neo-Renaissance, but he was a true pioneer in the field of Japonism. Edouard Lièvre's Japanese furniture was certainly innovative in the French furniture world of the second half of the 19th century. As a result, he worked for some of the greatest houses of his time: Barbedienne, Christofle, l'Escalier de Cristal and Sormani. The personalities of the time, fed up with the the lack of originality of most contemporary creations, called on his imaginative talent for their interiors. their interiors. His prestigious clientele included collectors and artists Edouard Detaille and Sarah Bernhardt, Princess Mathilde, the Baroness Dowager de Rothschild, Richard Wallace, banker Simon Lazard banker Simon Lazard and businessman William Kissam Vanderbilt, or one of the most prominent courtesans in late 19th-century Paris, Valtesse de la Bigne. Furniture designed or created by Edouard Lièvre is extremely rare, and ranks among the most successful decorative arts of the 19th century. A few pieces of beautifully executed Sino-Japanese rosewood furniture designed by Edouard Lièvre are known. but very few have survived. The display cabinet we are presenting is exceptional in that, apart from the one reproduced in the apart from the one reproduced in the book dedicated to Edouard Lièvre by Galerie Steinitz in 2014, pp.110-113, which is a faithful replica of the piece on show today, we know of no other. know of any other. Another version of this piece, lower and wider, with similar structure and materials, has two leaves with more bronze ornamentation. A piece of this type illustrated in the book Optima Propagare. Edouard Lièvre : Créateur de meubles & objets d'art par la Galerie Roxane Rodriguez" pp. 42-43, as well as in the catalog published by by Galerie Steinitz, pp. 128-133. The auction catalog for the Estate of Edouard Lièvre, held at the Hôtel des Ventes Drouot, March 21-24, 1887, mentions in the category "Meubles style japonais et chinois", page 42, lot 102: "Meuble d'entre-deux de style chinois, à hauteur d'appui et à un vantail, en palissandre ciré et à moulures, embellished with chased and openwork bronze appliqués with an old gold patina, such as: friezes and plates composed of foliage rinceaux et entrelacs déliés, rosaces doubles et agrafes". From this description, we have every reason to believe that this is one of the variants of our piece of furniture. These pieces recognizable by their use of rosewood, their highly characteristic shape, the ornamental vocabulary in finely chased in finely chased, openwork and gilded bronze, decorated with foliate scrolls and flowers, constitute a quasi signature of Edouard Lièvre's style and, in the absence of a distinctive mark, only the incomparable style and quality of execution serve as a signature. Bibliography : Daniel Alcouffe, Olivier Hurstel, Edouard Lièvre et son influence sur les Arts décoratifs du dernier quart du XIXe siècle, Galerie Steinitz, Paris, 2014. Catalog des Meubles d'Art en bois sculpté et ornés de bronzes style Renaissance, Louis XVI et dans le goût japonais (...) le tout dépendant de la succession de feu M. Edouard Lièvre, March 21-24, 1887, Drouot, Paris, no. 62, p. 42. Optima Propagare. Edouard Lièvre: Créateur de meubles & objets d'art, Galerie Roxane Rodriguez, catalog by by Olivier Hurstel, Paris, 2004, pp.42-43. We would like to thank Élodie Levy for writing this note.