Attributed to Louis Constant SEVIN (1821–1888) for Ferdinand - Lot 595

Attributed to Louis Constant SEVIN (1821–1888) for Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE (1810–1892) Bronze Athenian-style stool with a tripod base adorned with panther heads and ending in feline claws. Napoleon III period. Height: 76 cm Diameter: 33 cm Shows signs of wear; the top has been replaced with a small bowl. Note: The base of this stool is an adaptation of a tripod that Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and Sicily, presented to Bonaparte in 1802. It arrived in Paris along with about a hundred objects from the “Herculaneum Museum” and was kept at Malmaison under the supervision of Francesco Carelli, in accordance with Josephine’s wishes, before becoming part of the Louvre’s collections. A pedestal table with a similar base appears in a photograph taken in 1866 by Jeanne Laplanche in Prince Napoleon’s Pompeian villa on Avenue Montaigne. Built in the early 1860s by architect Alfred Normand, this residence reflected a resurgence of keen interest in archaeology and forms inspired by antiquity. Our small table, likely cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne’s foundries, reflects this revival in the 1860s and 1870s. Bibliography: Francesco Carelli, “Description of the Ancient Monuments Sent to the First Consul by His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies,” in *Magasin Encyclopédique, ou Journal des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts*, Paris 1803