Bronze And Porcelain Fireplace Surround By Riondet. 19th Century.

The 18th century rediscovered. - Exquisite Louis XVI style mantelpiece in carefully crafted gilt bronze and finely crackled glazed earthenware adorned on a white background with gold highlights with bucolic landscapes, gallant scenes, cherubs, trophies and floral garlands treated in soft polychrome. Created on the initiative of Henri-Louis Riondet, director of the Comptoir Général stores, a renowned Parisian jewelry and watchmaking house, it consists of:
- a "vase clock" - Embellished with a gilt bronze mount combining neoclassical-inspired chiseled, floral, and ribbon motifs with a touch of elegance, it takes the form of a covered ovoid vase on a pedestal topped with a pine cone fretel and punctuated by lion-muzzled handles holding a knotted trimmed scarf in their mouths. In the lower part, emphasizing its Louis XVI-inspired silhouette, a dazzling floral garland unfolds between two leafy acanthus scrolls. Its body, interrupted by the dial and movement, is embellished on the front with a tender musical trophy (tambour, oboe), delightful cherubs fluttering, light, amidst clouds speckled with undulating ribbon-like blossoms; on the back, amidst autumnal groves, a centuries-old castle rises evanescently.
Wrapped in delicate floral garlands, twelve fretted cartouches in white enamel enhanced with gold, a cherub fluttering above amorous gardening attributes (watering can, rake, sheaf of wheat, and flowers) painted in polychrome on a cloudy porcelain background, adorn the dial. Refined, it features Roman numerals and is signed: "H.Riondet/Comptoir Général".

- a pair of vases forming candelabras. Featuring a gilt bronze mount similar to that of the clock, these latter feature five light arms with scrolls of foliated acanthus at the basins, bobeches edged with bell-shaped motifs and water leaves; a flamed knob crowns the central shaft. Each is decorated on its body, within medallions encircled by foliage, with courtly gallant scenes (The Tender Offering, The Declaration of Love), and vaporous landscapes silhouetted with picturesque architecture (a manor house or Hermitage, a Temple of Love, a bridge) reflected in the calm waters of a pond. These pictorial compositions of great delicacy are signed: "P.Phillipot", a porcelain painter active in Parisian squares in the years 1880-1900. Supported by two spinning top feet alternating with scrolls of acanthus fleurons arranged in a clasp, an oval base with ornate projections (gadroons and small pieces, frieze of posts) plinths each of the three pieces of this mantelpiece.

Dial signed: "H.Riondet/ Comptoir Général" - Movement numbered: 8929 and stamped on the plate: "Comptoir Général/H.Riondet/ 9 Bd Poissonnières/ Paris" - Clockmaker's stamp: "L.P Japy et Cie/ Hors Concours/1878".
Materials: gilt bronze; painted enameled earthenware and porcelain, highlighted with gold; enamel and glass.
Dimensions: - Clock: H.: 55; W.: 28; D.: 24 cm. - Candelabra: H.: 56.5; W.: 20x20 cm.

Paris, second half of the 19th century. Circa 1890. Neo-Louis XVI work from the Parisian Maison Henri-Louis Riondet known as "Grand Comptoir Général- Bijouterie, Joaillerie- Horlogerie,-Bronzes d'Art et d'ameublement" located at 5-9, Bd Poissonnière (Shops)-45 rue du Sentier (Workshops) active between 1876 and 1905.

With a particularly sought-after composition, this luminous fireplace surround alone evokes the spirit of an artistic 19th century delighting around the years 1880-1900 in the "graces and charms" of a bygone 18th century. From the works of the Goncourt brothers (Art in the 18th Century, 1859-1870, Women in the 18th Century, 1887), Robert de Montesquiou (The Red Pearls, 1899) and Pierre de Nolhac (The Palace of Versailles in the Time of Marie-Antoinette), to the Louis XV-Louis XVI living environment of the hotels (Hôtels de Yturbe, de Ganay, Duwen, Nissim de Camondo), villas (Vanderbilt, Berwind in Newport), castles (des Champs, de La Rochefoucould-Doudeauville) built or restored by architect-decorators (Destailleurs, Sanson, Parent and Sergent) through the paintings of François Flammeng, Madelaine Lemaire, Adrien Moreau, Maurice Leloir. , we evoke, recreate, and dream, not without nostalgia, of the enchanting, refined world staged by Watteau and Boucher, traversed by Madame de Pompadour, Du Barry, and Marie-Antoinette.
Within the decorative arts, this watchmaking ensemble, marked by a "modern, tasteful" neo-Louis XVI style, combined with gallant scenes depicted in nuanced hues—in the tenderly suggestive manner of pastels—offers a seductive "slice" of this idly dreamed-of 18th century. In its presence, we think of the Châteaux of Bellevue, Bagatelle, or the Petit Trianon. By its quality and originality, our garniture - probably commissioned by an amateur of the time who wanted to own a little-sold work - also establishes the name of Henri-Louis Riondet among the luxurious Parisian watchmaking houses of the second half of the 19th century - a house of European renown prized by a distinguished class attracted by "its vast, spectacularly stocked artistic shopfronts".