Finely Cast 19th Century Patinated Bronze And Serpentine Marble Grand Tour Athenienne. #2756

A Fine late 19^th Century Grand Tour Athenienne of patinated bronze having a serpentine marble basin. 

French circa 1880

The circular top inset with a serpentine marble dish surrounded by a bronze frieze cast with panels of sprigs, supported by three tapering fluted monopodia terminating on paw feet and headed by husk-cast ring handles, raised on a leaf-cast tricorn plinth having an serpentine marble inset.

The athénienne was a completely new, multifunctional type of Neoclassical furniture used as a jardiniere, washstand, perfume burner or brazier which derived from classical antique forms and first became fashionable in late eighteenth-century France. 

This smart and rare Neoclassical revival piece, made circa 1880, is in excellent original condition. It typifies the kind of object that would have been collectable on the European Grand Tour when the taste for Greek and Roman inspired pieces was very popular amongst the travelling elite.