French Ormolu Mounted Lidded Urns with Floral Festoons
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A pair of French ormolu mounted lidded urns, 19th century, decorated throughout with floral festoons entwined in trellis, upon finely cast and fitted neoclassical gilt bronze bases, with similar removable collars, 44 cm high. Provenance: Harlequin Antiques Melbourne
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- Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
- Harlequin - The Harlequin is a character from the Italian commedia dell'arte, a form of theatre typified by characters wearing masks, and acting out unscripted performances. There are corresponding characters in the French and Spanish theatre.
In dress, he is characterised by his hat, mask, and colourful diamond-pattern tunic.
Columbine is the mistress of Harlequin, and the wife of Pierrot. - Bronze - An alloy of copper and tin, traditionally in the proportions of about 9 parts of copper to 1 part of tin.
The discovery of bronze in Western Asia in the 4th century enabled people to create metal objects which were superior to those previoulsy possible because of its strength and hardness, and it has been used throughout the world for weapons, coins, tools, statuary and other decorative items.
It is very fluid in a molten state, and its hardness, strength when set, and non-corrosive properties makes it most suitable for casting sculpture.
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