Pair of Cassolettes, France circa 1890

Beautiful pair of Louis XVI-inspired baluster-shaped cassolettes in white marble, enriched with an elegant bronze mount with a double patina. The lid is topped with a seed-shaped grip.
The body is decorated with garlands of ivy attached to a button. The leafy handles rest on the top of the collar and join the pedestal decorated with large leaves surrounded by a laurel rush. The whole rests on a molded cubic base.

Biography :
Henri Vian, a bronze-caster active in the second half of the 19th Century, made a lot of interior decorations with chimney mantelpieces, ormolu and patinated-mounted vases, chandeliers… He produced articles of the highest quality. The signature can be either in script, usually with a lower case first letter for his Christian name as on these vases, or more commonly with initials h.V. in later pieces. The business, located at 5 rue de Thorigny in Paris (Salé Mansion, now Picasso Museum), was continued by Madame Vian after her husband’s death in 1905.