Luxurious Historicist Bronze Table Easel with Musical Angels and Enamel Inlays — Europe, circa 1900 (4338)

Luxurious Historicist Bronze Table Easel with Musical Angels and Enamel Inlays — Europe, circa 1900 (4338)

This premium antique bronze display easel represents the finest European craftsmanship from the turn of the century. –

This large, sculpturally grand, and astonishingly finely detailed table easel (antique historism bronze display easel) is an outstanding and rare example of decorative applied art from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The object is cast from high-quality artistic bronze and copper alloy. Its complexity of execution and multi-coloured texture provide it with immediate museum-level substance and visual grandeur.

The easel’s composition is a true masterclass in Historicism and Neo-Renaissance (Renaissance Revival) style. The upper part of the object is crowned by two sculpturally formed, three-dimensional, and winged putti angels or cherubs, seated on symmetrical volutes of the frame: the angel on the left blows a trumpet, while the putto on the right plays a lute. Between them, at the very apex of the upper axis, an antique cup is placed on a pedestal, above which two brave heraldic birds spread their wings. Below the cup, within a delicate floral and leaf-shaped forging, an expressive, anatomically complete classical female mascaron (mascaron) is embedded.

The easel’s load-bearing rectangular frame is a technical masterpiece — its vertical and horizontal planes are adorned with intricate turn-of-the-century champlevé enamel technique, where silvery-grey and dark enamel inlays form a rhythmic pattern of scales and plant arabesques, contrasting with the warm, polished bronze frame. The central crossbar is decorated with a classical rosette. The decorative front of the easel’s base is finished with a magnificent baroque shield, in the central oval medallion of which another winged angel is depicted in relief. The edges of the base rest on two expressive, massive, and sculpturally cast griffin or dragon feet. The rear support leg is equipped with a sturdy hinge and decorated along its entire length, ensuring impeccable stability.

DIMENSIONS AND VOLUME:

• Overall height: 57 cm (Large and representative size in the category of table objects)

• Width at base: 29.5 cm

• Construction: Foldable, heavy, and monolithic artistic bronze and enamel easel with two fixed support pin rods at the front and a massive movable rear support.

CRAFTSMANSHIP & PERIOD Made approximately 1890–1905, in France or the best Austro-Hungarian art foundries. This object represents the flourishing of the magnificent Belle Époque, when the homes of European intelligentsia and aristocracy were captivated by musical symbolism and Renaissance mythology. Such a grand and technically complex enamel easel served as the main visual treasure on a gentleman’s desk, in a library, or on the marble mantelpiece, where it held the most important items — a miniature portrait of a loved one, a historical watercolour, or a precious icon.

*Victorian snapshot: In his Parisian residence, the famous collector and art patron Savva Mamontov slowly sipped his morning coffee… casting his gaze over the richly furnished salon interior. His eyes lingered for a moment on the new, heavy enamel table easel, whose musical angels with trumpet and lute and central female mascaron cast deep, sculptural shadows on the desk in the semi-darkness. The silvery enamel patterns on the bronze facets gently shimmered in the morning light, while the angel medallion at the base exuded the unshakable, academic thoroughness of “old school” masters. This object brought an unbreakable harmony to the room, as if the little putti themselves were about to play a quiet, yet unseen melody for the artwork that the easel so faithfully and proudly held within its sculptural frames.

MAKER / SIGNATURE / MARK The impeccable plasticity of the bronze casting, the detailed rendering of the angels’ bodies and faces, as well as the complex champlevé enamel technique on the frame axes, unequivocally point to one of the leading art bronze foundries (fonderies d’art) that created exclusive custom-made items for the European elite’s interiors at the turn of the century.

RARITY & SIGNIFICANCE While simple, plain, or small Art Nouveau and Baroque table stands appear relatively often on the antique market, a late Historicist easel of this scale (57 cm), combining three sculptural putti figures, a female mascaron, heraldic birds, and two-tone enamel work, is an extraordinary and unique rarity. The fully preserved integral construction and the intact delicate angel wings and instruments make this example a true collector’s gem with high decorative substance.

APPLICATION & INTERIOR USE The easel will serve as a grand, representative, and instantly noticeable visual centrepiece on a desk, console, mantelpiece, or in a private art gallery. It is exceptionally suitable for displaying larger format paintings, antique icons, or historical mirrors. Thanks to the high reflections of the bronze surface and the contrast of enamel and patina, the object creates a unique play of shadows and is an excellent subject for high-level interior design photographs.

CONDITION The easel is in excellent antique preservation. The heavy copper construction is completely sturdy, massive, and monolithic. The movable rear leg and hinge mechanism function flawlessly and firmly. All delicate sculptural elements — including the figures of both upper angels, the trumpet and lute, the central lady’s mascaron, the cup, and the base medallion — are original and fully preserved, without breaks or cracks. The enamel inlays on the frame are intact and have retained their historical depth of colour. The bronze has not been mechanically cleaned, preserving an excellent, natural century-old patina in the deep grooves of the relief. The condition of the item is fully reflected in the photographs.