Cluny Hotel Well - Reduction In Patinated Plaster And Wrought Iron, Late 19th Century

Cluny Hotel Well (Reduction)
Unusual patinated plaster and wrought iron reduction of the Cluny Hotel Well*, adorned with a gargoyle of a "wild man" (François Sauvage)*.
Signed on the plaster base and monogram 'VA' on the wrought iron.
France, late 19th century.
Good condition. Some minor wear, old restoration (repaired chip, visible in photos) under the plaster base.
Dimensions: Height 48 cm.


History of the Cluny Hotel and its well:
The Cluny Hotel is a building located in the heart of the Latin Quarter in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. This private mansion, situated between a courtyard and a garden, takes its name from the abbots of the Cluny order who, teaching at the Cluny College, made it their residence from the 13th century onwards. The Hotel housed the monks of Cluny as well as some important dignitaries. From the 17th century until the French Revolution, it housed apostolic nuncios as well as private individuals.
Rebuilt in 1485 and 1510, incorporating some elements of the contemporary Louis XII style, this building demonstrates the extent to which Parisian architecture resisted innovations brought from Italy and, like the Tour Saint-Jacques, remained essentially faithful to the Flamboyant Gothic style of the 15th century.
In 1843, the State transformed it into a museum, which is now the National Museum of the Middle Ages, or Musée de Cluny. In the trapezoidal entrance courtyard, bordered by single-story buildings, are two sundials and a well. The well features a gargoyle in the form of a "wild man," a reference to François Sauvage, controller of Charles VIII's silverware, as well as an iron pulley from Germany, probably dating from the 15th century. (Source: Musée de l'Hôtel de Cluny)