A Fine Restauration Sèvres porcelain, ormolu and patinated bronze guéridon dated 1821 and signed Jacobber

This is probably the table described as "guéridon de 55 cm groupe de fruits coloriés au milieu pied blanc monture en bronze" priced at 2,400 francs and placed on sale on December 15, 1821

Louvre, Paris, January 1822, cat. no. 8 (composé et peint par Jacobber)

Patinated bronze with some rubbing, scatches and surface dirt. Ormolu with some rubbing, oxidation and surface dirt. Burrwood with some cracks and some small chips; not extensive. Originally probably with casters. Porcelain plaque in good overall condition; very minor losses to paint and some scratches as visible in catalogue illustration. Gilding well presevered.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This porcelain, patinated bronze and ormolu guéridon is recorded in the Sèvres sales inventory as a guéridon de 55 cm groupe de fruit coloriés au milieu pied blanc monture en bronze at a retail price of 2,400 Francs. Also, as the richly decorated porcelain top is signed by the painter Moïse Jacobber (1786-1863), a free-lance painter at Sèvres who also executed a similarly painted porcelain table service for the duchesse de Berry in 1826 (a plate from which was sold Sotheby's Paris, March 29, 2007, lot 122), and is dated 1821, it can be further identified as item No. 8 in the catalogue of the 1821-1822 New Year’s exhibition at the Louvre, where it was described as composé et peint par Jacobber, and shown among the most recent and impressive achievements of the Sèvres manufactory. The table was shown together with the so-called “Henri IV guéridon;” the most celebrated one of the porcelain tables executed as part of the series manufactured in 1821.

A series of nine small round tables is known to have been produced at Sèvres in 1821. This was a new initiative on the part of Alexandre Bongniart, Administrator of the Sèvres Manufactory. These he described as guéridons intended as petit tables rondes à ouvrage ou à thé, pour cabinet ou petit salon. These tables, all of which fitted certain preset criteria, measured between 50 cm and 60 cm in diameter and were decorated with a wide array of themes. The most famous of these works is the abovementioned “Henri IV guéridon,” which was designed and painted by Jean-Charles Develly and is now in the Museé National de Céramique, Sévres, see Derek E. Ostergard ed., The Sévres Porcelain Manufactory: Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847, New Haven and London, 1997, pp. 238-239. The base of this table is executed in patinated bronze, similarly to that of the present lot. Interestingly, the “Henri IV guéridon” rests on a circular platform, just like another small round table from the same series sold Christie’s London, June 10, 2002, lot 70. The small holes to the underside of the feet of our table suggest that it too, had a similar platform. Of the known models from the 1821 series, the Christie’s guéridon is the most similar to the present lot: it has an identical ormolu-mounted patinated bronze base terminating in paw feet and a similarly somber ormolu rim framing the porcelain top. The white porcelain shaft of the Christie’s table also has similarly restrained gilt decoration as the present table. However, whereas that table’s top is decorated with rather simple geometric motifs imitating pietra dura inlay, ours is realistically painted and shows a wide variety of fruits and leaves accented by insects. As mentioned above, the present guéridon retailed for 2,400 Francs, whereas the one sold at Christie’s for only 900 Francs, suggesting that this table was considered a true masterwork at a time that would merit such astronomical price.

Porcelain and porcelain-mounted furniture

In France the fashion of including smaller pieces of porcelain into furniture started in the mid-eighteenth century, but did not become widely popular until the reign of Louis XVI when trendsetting marchands-merciers such as Dominique Daguerre and Simon Philippe Poirier commissioned pieces of furniture incorporating porcelain plaques from some of the most celebrated ébénistes of the period such as Martin Carlin. This trend survived the changes in taste brought about during the revolution and, as technological innovations at Sèvres made it possible to produce larger-than-ever works, wealthy patrons of the Consulat, Empire and the Bourbon restoration commissioned extravagant pieces of furniture incorporating large pieces of porcelain or, in some rare cases, made entirely out of porcelain. Such awe-inspiring pieces include a reading stand from 1825-27, see Marie-Noëlle Pinot de Villechenon, Sèvres: Porcelain from the Sèvres Museum, 1740 to the Present Day, London, 1997, p. 71, and a table commissioned by Napoleon I in 1811 and later gifted by Charles X to Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies and eventually sold Sotheby’s New York, November 9, 2007, lot 73 ($6,201,000).

Porcelain guéridons and tables were first produced at Sèvres during the first decade of the nineteenth century by the architect Théodore Brongniart, the father of Alexandre Brongniart. To produce table tops formed of a single piece of porcelain was a considerable technical accomplishment and unlike tables which had been produced at Sèvres earlier, they were designed to rest upon a single support. Porcelain and bronze guéridons of the present type were introduced by Alexandre Brongniart mainly to make use of large plaques that needed to be refired or decorated overall to cover any imperfections: Pour objet principal d’employer des plaques qui ont de repasser ou qui trop imparfaites pour de belles peintures. Par consequent les fonds au grand feu doivent être souvent employés. Producing these tables also helped the factory to utilize the different architectural elements, such as columns and balusters, that had already been fired but never used for other projects. For an Empire porcelain table with bronze feet depicting Apollo in his chariot comparable to this lot and now in the Château de Fontainebleau, see Bernard Chevallier, Les Sèvres de Fontainebleau: Pièces Entrées de 1804 à 1904, Paris, 1996, pp. 69-70.

The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory

The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory was founded in Vincennes in 1740 and later reestablished in larger quarters at Sèvres in 1756.  It became the pre-eminent factory in Europe during the second half of the 18th century but fell onto very hard times during the years of the French Revolution. Since it was no longer a royal enterprise, the factory had lost much of its clientèle and generally its financial condition echoed the economic distress of the country as a whole. The appointment in 1800 of Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847) as the administrator of the factory set in motion a marked change in the success of the factory which he continued to run until his death in 1847.