Product Description
Paul-Auguste Gagné, French Egyptian Revival Gilt Bronze Garniture Set c. 1875

Paul-Auguste Gagné (Sculptor) France
Egyptian Revival garniture set, circa 1875
Gilt bronze and carved rouge marble mantle clock and candelabra in a high Egyptian Revival style
Marks: P.A. Gagne (elaborate incised scroll signature on the back of the portrait bust)
For more information on Gagné see: Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, vol. 4, E. Bénézit (Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1976) p. 579.
For other related Egyptian Revival garniture sets see: Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994)
H: 20 3/4″ x D: 6 3/4″ x W: 14 1/2″
Paul-Auguste Gagné, French Egyptian Revival Gilt Bronze Garniture Set c. 1875
MAURICE BOUVAL (born Toulouse, died 1920) France
M. COLIN France
“Nymph Embracing a Blossom” candle holder c.1900
Silvered cast bronze in the form of a nymph on a leaf embracing a blossom
Marks: M. Bouval (script signature) and COLIN, (Foundry) written above
For other examples of Bouval’s work see: The Paris Salons 1895-1914, Vol. V: Objets d’Art & Metalware, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1999), p. 127; Ecole to Deco, Small Sculptures from a Private Collection, Stephen C. McGough ed. (Oberlin, Ohio: Allen Memorial Art Museum, 1979) pp. 33-4; Art Nouveau Sculpture, Alastair Duncan (New York: Rizzoli, 1978) pp. 30-1.
H: 3″ x W: 6 1/2″ x D: 4 3/4″
Tobei Showa Period (1926-1989) Japan
Richly patinated bronze vase in a spherical form with three buttress elements decorated with a highly stylized woven basketry-type design.
Marks: Japanese characters for Tobei
H: 7″ x Dia: 7 1/4″
FRENCH ART NOUVEAU
JULIEN CAUSSE attr. (1869-1914) Bourges, France
Bronze and frosted glass grape cluster and vine lamp c. 1900
L: 24″ x dia (grape cluster): 7″
Julien Causse was born in Bourges, France and worked from 1890 – 1914. He studied in Paris under Falguiére and exhibited at The Salon des Artists Francais in the 1890s, obtaining honourable mentions in 1882 and 1900 and a third class medal in 1893. He also took part in the exposition Universelle of 1900.
MARCELLO FANTONI (1915-2011) Italy
Starburst mirror 1950’s
Torched bronze and original white plaster painted finish.
Marks: Fantoni, Firenze, Italy (hand script)
***This mirror has great style and character.
Overall dimension: H: 26″ x L: 33″ x D: 4″
Mirror dimension: H: 12″ x L: 17″
Price: $17,500
Born in Florence on October 1, 1915, Marcello Fantoni registered at the Institute of Art at Porta Romana in 1927 to attend the course The Art of Ceramics, which at that time was taught by the ceramist Carlo Guerrini, artistic director of the Cantagalli factory. Other teachers also contributed to his artistic formation including Libero Andreotti and Bruno Innocenti in sculpture and Gianni Vagnetti in the figure. He graduated in ’34 as a ‘maestro’ of art, and began working as a ceramist. In 1936, after having worked for a few months as the artistic director of a factory in Perugia, he established himself at Villa Fabbricotti in Florence and founded the Fantoni Ceramic studio. It’s production of serial and unique pieces had remarkable success at the Florentine Arts and Crafts Exhibit in ’37, revealing itself in line with the most recent tendencies, so much so that at the beginning of hostilities his production had already received notable artistic and commercial attention in Italy and abroad. After the war years, when Fantoni was involved in the resistance, in ’46 he began the creative and productive fervor that will allow him to enlarge his company, reaching at the beginning of the next decade the impressive size of over fifty collaborators. Among his employees were many students who, in ceramics and other fields, would become excellent artisans and even famous artists. In the following decades, especially between 1950 and the 70’s, the success of his work continued to increase, his unique pieces of sculpture and sculptural work, characterized by a design in step with the contemporary artistic currents, like archaic stylization inspired by Etruscan models, rendered modern because of their modern handling of materials, glazes and colors. For this original spirit of modernity, his works are in many private collections and in some of the most important museums of the world: in the United States his works can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Art of Boston, the Currier Gallery, the Syracuse Museum. In Britain they are in the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, the City Art Gallery of Manchester, at Royal Scottish Museum of Edinburg. In Japan they are present at the Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo and Kyoto. In Italy they are represented at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, the National Bargello Museum and at the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi. In his long and versatile career, Fantoni has completed works for churches, public and private buildings, schools, cinemas, theaters and ships cementing himself in both figurative and abstract ceramics and various metals, and qualifying himself also in the field of medalism. In 1970 he founded the International School of Ceramic Arts at his laboratory in via Bolognese in Florence. Fantoni died at the age of 95 in 2011.