Pair of perfume burners
Each is in the form of a flattened lidded container of gilt bronze supported on the heads of a pair of female fauns facing away from one another. They are seated on a smaller urn-shaped plinth set on a rectangular base. The fluted container is mounted with scrolls and beading in the fully neo-classical style and it is probable that originally there was some sort of pierced band between the lid and the body. This would have enabled these pieces to be used as perfume burners. In such a case, a pleasing aroma would be generated by a miniature stove or spirit lamp set into the receptacle over which pastilles or sweet-smelling essences were heated. The plinth is elaborately decorated with a pinecone finial and a flared, fluted and flattened base adorned with heavy swags and pendants of fruit and flowers.
Possibly made by the great sculptor and bronze worker Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843), the contrast of patinated bronze with gilt bronze is particularly noteworthy.
Possibly made by the great sculptor and bronze worker Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843), the contrast of patinated bronze with gilt bronze is particularly noteworthy.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pair of perfume burners
- Date: ca. 1785
- Culture: French
- Medium: Bronze, chased, partly gilded and partly patinated
- Dimensions: H. 21 3/4 x W. 13 5/8 x D. 8 1/4 in. (55.2 x 34.6 x 21 cm)
- Classification: Metalwork-Gilt Bronze
- Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977
- Object Number: 1977.102.3, .4
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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French
ca. 1785
French
ca. 1790
French, Paris
ca. 1787–88
André Charles Boulle
ca. 1710–20
Gilles Joubert
1759
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