Andiron (one of a pair)
The celebrated Parisian marchand-mercier Darnault Frères created the model for this andiron, which features a perfume burner, supported by three pieds de biche (deer legs), and is ornamented with three goat heads and a long garland of flowers and fruits. In 1785, Darnault Frères sold a pair to Madame Adélaïde, one of Louis XVI’s aunts, for her bedroom at the Château de Bellevue. Before the French Revolution, this had become a successful model; several similar andirons with only slight variations have survived today in public and private collections in Europe and the United States. The early provenance of this example is unknown.
Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.
Duveen. Frick, 1916.
Source: Furniture in The Frick Collection: French 18th- & 19th-Century Furniture (Pt. 2) & Gilt Bronzes. Volume VI. New York: The Frick Collection, 1992.
