Maison Millet, Pair Of Cassolettes, France, Circa 1870

Pair of Louis XVI-inspired curved shape cassolettes with godrons, in green granite and chiseled and gilded bronze, in the Rocaille style, attributed to Maison Millet. The lid is topped by a pomegranate surrounded by pine cones, grapes and pomegranates, the body flanked with large winding handles from which emerge reeds and that are attached to the neckline lined with leaves and palmettes. They rest on a scalloped openwork base, decorated with leafy scrolls.

Related work :
Porphyry and gilded bronze vase, circa 1750, Musée du Louvre, OA 5152
Probably from the collection of the Duc de Tallard that the Marquis de Marigny proposed to sell to the Crown in 1778.
Reproduced in « Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle », Pierre Verlet, Picard, 1987, p.62

Biography :
The firm of Théodore Millet was founded in 1853. A very talented specialist in 18th Century reproductions, Millet produced furniture and artistic bronzes of the highest quality. He was one of the few cabinet-makers to obtain authorisation from the Château de Versailles to make in 1902 a replica of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s great jewel cabinet. As an artist of great merit and specializing in « meubles et bronzes d’art, genre ancien et moderne », Millet obtained the highest rewards such as the Gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889 for his first participation, and the Grand Prize at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The photographic archives show, among the workshops views and the parisian shop, Millet’s stand at the Universal Exhibition in Saint-Louis (US) in 1904. The firm’s influence internationally is then through its antenna in New-York « Duryea and Potter », 469 fifth avenue, New-Yok. The firm lasted until 1918.