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Coupe d'ornament

Ref: 1768
  • Designer / Maker

    Designed by Constant Sévin (1821-88)

    Manufactured by the firm of F. Barbedienne (1839-1955)

  • Detail

    Onyx and gilt-bronze

    14 x 48.2 (max. width)

    French (Paris), circa 1872

  • Provenance

    […]; H. Blairman & Sons, 2002; private collection

  • Literature

    H. Blairman & Sons, Furniture and Works of Art (2002), no. 17

  • Notes

    An identical coupe in the néo-grec taste is in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; see de Manet à Matisse, Paris, 1990, p. 94.

    Sévin trained as a sculptor and early in his career produced metalwork for manufacturers such as Froment-Meurice.  Following the 1848 revolution he worked in London for Morel.  From 1855 until his death, Sévin was employed by Barbedienne as a sculpture-ornamentiste.  He worked on the Hôtel Païva, Paris and the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore.  Sévin is best known for his designs in the née-grec and Renaissance-revival styles.

    The onyx used on this coupe was probably supplied by the Compagnie des Marbres et Onyx d’Algérie, founded in 1858 by Alphonse Pallu.