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Surtout De Table
A surtout de table is an ornamental centrepiece displayed on a formal dining table, "a large centerpiece with mirrored plateaus and numerous candelabra and other possible display pieces on top". In French ''surtout de table'' is the usual term for any type of centrepiece, but in English this "tray" type, along with the objects placed on it, is the usual meaning. Evolving from a simple plate or bowl on which to stand candlesticks and condiments, a surtout de table often took the form of a long galleried tray made of precious or gilded metals, on which a series of other objects were placed for display. It was often made in sections allowing its length to be determined by the leaves added to the table. During the later half of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century, no formal table was considered compete without one. Today, they are still seen and used in the most formal dining rooms. History According to Roy Strong, the surtout de table first appeared in 1692 at the mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre-Philippe Thomire
Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843) a French sculptor, was the most prominent ''bronzier'', or producer of ornamental patinated and gilt-bronze objects and furniture mounts of the First French Empire. His fashionable neoclassical and Empire style furnishing bronzes (''bronzes d'ameublement'') established the highest standard in refined finish in the craft that the French called that of the ''fondeur-ciseleur'', "founder-finisher". In his pre-Revolutionary training, Thomire appeared first as a ''ciseleur'', in the division of duties that went into the production, for example, of a set of gilt-bronze wall-lights delivered for Marie-Antoinette's card-room, her ''Salon des Jeux'' at Compiègne: under the general supervision of Hauré, the wax and wooden model was carved by Martin, cast by Forestier, and chased by Thomire, as Pierre Verlet was able to show over fifty years ago. He had received his training in the workshop of Pierre Gouthière, the outstanding Parisian ''ciseleur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, with over 463,000 visitors in 2019. The Grade I listed house was built in a mostly Neo-Renaissance style, copying individual features of several French châteaux, between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898) as a weekend residence for entertaining and to house his collection of arts and antiquities. As the manor and estate have passed through three generations of the Rothschild family, the contents of the house have expanded to become one of the most rare and valuable collections in the world. In 1957, James de Rothschild bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust, opening the house and gardens for the benefit of the general public. Unusually for a National Trust property, the family of James Rothschild, the donor, manage the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ormolu
Ormolu (; from French ''or moulu'', "ground/pounded gold") is the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold– mercury amalgam to an object of bronze, and for objects finished in this way. The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold coating. The French refer to this technique as "''bronze doré''"; in English, it is known as "gilt bronze". Around 1830, legislation in France had outlawed the use of mercury for health reasons, though use continued to the 1900s. Craftsmen principally used ormolu for the decorative mountings of furniture, clocks, lighting devices, and porcelain. Process The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of mercuric nitrate is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze; followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item is then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury vaporizes and the gold remains, adhering to the metal obje ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and River Wye, Derbyshire, Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland. The house holds major collections of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures and books. Chosen several times as Britain's favourite country house, it is a Grade I listed property from the 17th century, altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2011–2012 it underwent a £14-million restoration. The owner is the Chatsworth House Trust, an independent charitable foundation, on behalf of the Cavendish family. History 11th–16th centuries The name 'Chatsworth' is a corruption of ''Che ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hôtel De Charost
Hôtel de Charost is a hôtel particulier located at 39 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. Since 1814, it has been the official residence of the ambassador of the United Kingdom to France. It is located near the Élysée Palace. History The ''hôtel'' was built in the 1720s for Armand de Bethune, 2nd Duke of Charost, a senior courtier of Louis XV. It was designed by Antoine Mazin, the king's own architect. The building was sited on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was then a winding road that passed through fields and market gardens to the village of Roule on the outskirts of Paris. After it had been an aristocratic home, the ''hôtel'' became the Embassy of Portugal, offices for the French home office (''siège de bureaux''), an Imperial Palace and the temporary residence of the Austrian ambassador. In 1803, it was bought by Pauline Borghese, the sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1814, she sold the building to the Duke of Wellington who paid her in instalments of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier
Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695 – 31 July 1750) was a French goldsmith, sculptor, painter, architect, and furniture designer. He was born in Turin, but became known as a worker in Paris, where he died. His Italian origin and training were probably responsible for the extravagance of his decorative style. He shared, and perhaps distanced, the meretricious triumphs of Oppenord and Germain, since he dealt with the Rococo in its most daring and flamboyant developments. Rarely does he leave a foot or two of undecorated space; Meissonier carried the style of his day to its extreme and thus achieved great popularity. Like the Scottish brothers Adam at a later day he not only as architect built houses, but as painter and decorator covered their internal walls; he designed the furniture and the candlesticks, the silver and the decanters for the table; he was as ready to produce a snuff-box as a watch case or a sword hilt. Not only in France, but for the nobility of Poland, Portu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion Victoria was the deified personification of victory. She first appears during the first Punic War, seemingly as a Romanised re-naming of Nike, the goddess of victory associated with Rome's Greek allies in the Greek mainland and in Magna Graecia. Thereafter she comes to symbolise Rome's eventual hegemony and right to rule. She is a deified abstraction, entitled to cult but unlike Nike, she has virtually no mythology of her own. History and iconography Victoria first appears during the first Punic War, as a translation or renaming of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory in peace or war. Nike would have become familiar to the Roman military as a goddess of Rome's Greek allies in the Punic wars. She was worshipped in Magna Graecia and mainland Greece, and was a subject of Greek myth. Around this time, various Roman war-deities begin to receive the epithet ''victor'' (conqueror) or ''invictus'' (unconquered). By the late republican and early imperial eras, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garniture
A garniture is a number or collection of any matching, but usually not identical, decorative objects intended to be displayed together. Frequently made of metal, ormolu, often with gilded wood stands, porcelain (both European and Asian), garnitures became popular during the latter half of the 17th century and remained in vogue throughout the 19th century. A very common placement is on the mantelpiece over a fireplace, but garnitures were very often placed on various pieces of furniture, and on ledges or niches around the walls of a room, especially over doors or above fireplaces. Garnitures may contain pieces made together with a view to being used as a set, or may be "assembled" by the decorator from pieces of different origin. Most commonly a garniture is a collection of three matching pieces designed for the adornment of a mantlepiece; for example: a clock and two flanking vases or candelabra. Often a large central piece is flanked by pairs of smaller ones. Factory records sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, until it was burned by the Paris Commune in 1871. Built in 1564, it was gradually extended until it closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard and displayed an immense façade of 266 metres. Since the destruction of the Tuileries, the Louvre courtyard has remained open and the site is now the location of the eastern end of the Tuileries Garden, forming an elevated terrace between the Place du Carrousel and the gardens proper. History Plan of Catherine de Medici (16th C.) The site of the Tuileries palace was originally just outside the walls of the city, in an area frequently flooded by the Seine as far as the present Rue Saint-Honore. The land was occupied by the workshops and kilns craftsmen who ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was the last monarch to rule over France. Elected to the presidency of the Second Republic in 1848, he seized power by force in 1851, when he could not constitutionally be reelected; he later proclaimed himself Emperor of the French. He founded the Second Empire, reigning until the defeat of the French Army and his capture by Prussia and its allies at the Battle of Sedan in 1870. Napoleon III was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernization of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. He expanded the French overseas empire, made the French merchant navy the second largest in the world, and engaged in the Second Italian War of Independence as well as the disastrous Franco-Prussian War, dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Christofle
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
