A Restauration Gilt Bronze and Siena Marble Encrier

A magnificent Restauration gilt bronze and Siena marble encrier attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire featuring at centre a mermaid who kneels on stone that is polished to resemble a pool of water which is set into a rectangular gilt bronze dish, the bare-breasted mermaid with a fish tail that rises up either side of her and wearing seaweed around her loins, supports in her upstretched hands a large scallop shell that is balanced on her head, the shell with delicate layers around its rim and finely chased underneath with a dipped polished concave centre above to accommodate writing utensils, to either side of her are two elaborate scrolled acanthus-wrapped and rosette mounted cornucopias, one to hold ink and the other to hold pounce, each with fish tail ends and a domed lid formed of various marine shells to include clams, cockles and scallops, amid seaweed. The pair of cornucopias and mermaid dish set upon a rectangular Siena marble base with a recessed pen tray at the front, supported on large gilt bronze lion paw feet
Paris, date circa 1820
Height 21 cm, width 35 cm, depth 19 cm.
The quality of the modelling and finely chased details featured here are typical of the work of Thomire et Cie, a company that was founded by the eminent fondeur-ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). By circa 1820 Thomire favoured robust cornucopias, such as we see here, which compare for instance with a pair of candelabra of circa 1820, each stamped Thomire à Paris, that have massive cornucopia-shaped candle branches and were once owned by Hector-Martin Lefuel (1810-1880) and then sold as part of the Dr Jeffrey Lant collection (Christie’s New York, 22nd October 2024, lot 34). A comparable encrier attributed to Thomire, featuring a central kneeling female vestal flanked by a pair of cornucopias, was offered by Galerie Koller (30th March 2017, lot 1245).
Born into a family of ciseleurs, Thomire began working with the renowned bronzier Pierre Gouthière as well as Jean-Louis Prieur, ciseleur-doreur du roi, before opening up his own workshop in 1776. Famed for his production of finely chased gilt bronze objets de luxe, of which a large quantity was commissioned by the royal household, Thomire frequently collaborated with the marchands-mercier, such as Simon-Philippe Poirier and his successor Dominique Daguerre. In addition, Thomire supplied finely chased mounts to leading ébénistes of his day such as Guillaume Benneman and Adam Weisweiler. Thomire also helped establish his name when working at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, firstly as an assistant to its artistic director Jean-Claude Duplessis in making the factory’s mounts. Following Duplessis’s death in 1783, Thomire took over the elder’s job and in this capacity supplied all the gilt bronze mounts for the factory’s porcelain.
His pre-Revolutionary success was somewhat eclipsed by his fame during the Empire. In 1806 he became the first bronzier to be awarded a gold medal at the Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie. He won another gold medal in 1809 and in the same year was also appointed Ciseleur de l’Empereur. In addition to Napoleon himself Thomire was patronised by the Emperor’s family as well as by foreign royal courts. To meet growing demand, he needed to expand his business and thus in 1804 he purchased an extensive business run by the marchand-mercier Martin-Eloi Lignereux, which allowed Thomire to operate on a much larger scale. Renaming the company Thomire-Duterme et Cie, Thomire retained the showroom at rue Taitbout and from there retailed a large range of decorative objects.
Many of the pieces made at his workshop at rue Boucherat, were supplied to the Imperial household and other notable families. Thomire’s production included some of the finest gilt bronze objects of the period, from centrepieces and candelabra to clock cases and furniture. At the same time Thomire also supplied beautiful gilt bronze mounts to the leading ébénistes as well as mounts to the porcelain manufacturers. Soon after 1815, the partnership with Duterme was dissolved and under its new style, Thomire et Cie, the business thrived once more under the restored Bourbons. In 1823 Thomire won a gold medal for sculpture and in the same year retired though he continued to produce sculptures and regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon until 1834. His business was then succeeded by his two sons-in-law Louis-Auguste-Cesar Carbonelle and André-Antoine Beauvisage, under whose direction the firm continued to thrive and remained in business up until 1852.
Encriers, which would sit on a desk, were an essential part of society life, and while highly practical, this example was also conceived as a work of art, only to be afforded by the wealthiest of clientele. The cornucopias were functional as one would contain an inkpot while the other would hold pounce. The latter was a fine powder that was used to blot or soak up the wet ink after writing; it was also used to prepare paper, especially if came ‘unsized’, that is, lacking the thin gelatinous material used to fill the surface of the paper and make it smooth enough for writing with a quill pen. Pounce was either made up of finely ground bones of cuttlefish or gum sandarac resin. Another essential component of a writing set was the quill pen, which would neatly fit into the shaped recess at the front of the marble base. Quills would often get blunt so they need to be sharpened with a small penknife, which could have been stored in the scallop shell dish above the mermaid’s head. The dish may also have been used to hold thin wafers (or pains à cacheter) as well as sealing wax and a stamp which were all used to seal up a letter before it was sent. According to etiquette, wax was usually regarded as the correct way to seal a letter to someone of superior rank. No doubt the original owner of this encrier, would themselves have belonged to the highest rank in society.