Style Other / Ref.11666

Charles – Guillaume DIEHL - Neo-Pompeian bed with wood marquetry and gilt bronze decorations, circa 1860-1870

This very rare Neo-Pompeian bed with a wood marquetry decor and gilt bronze decorations was made by the furniture maker Charles Guillaume Diehl (1811 – 1885) in the 1860-1870’s.

It presents an exceptional and rich marquetry decor of different wood varieties, such as walnut, ebony, mahogany or even rosewood, brightened up with splendid gilt bronze elements. Thus, we can see on the footboard, two marquetry scenes depicting a man and woman dresses with togas that we can attributed to E. Varlot, of who we can see the work on other furniture made by the furniture maker, and friezes of volutes and palms inspired by the Ancient ornaments. The bronze elements en bronze show a very high quality carving, we find them on the feet mounts, on the center of the panel en framing the different parts of the decor. They also take from an Ancient and Neo-Byzantine vocabulary depicting palms, laurel torus or even a woman mascaron with jewels and a radiant headdress.

The headboard of the bed shows quite a less full decor. Indeed, the marquetry motif is restrained to a palm and scrolls frieze, we find the same gilt bronze frames and elements on the mounts of the feet. Nevertheless, the headboard receives a pediment with a splendid gilt bronze projecting peacock on its top surmounting a wood marquetry decor depicting an Ancient cup above two splendid gilt bronze wings. The pediment lines are also underlined by gilt bronze friezes.
Our bed is a rare furniture piece which testifies of an exceptional marquetry and bronze work. Its remarkable quality and its style are not making any doubt for its attribution to one of the most important furniture maker of the second half of the 19th century, whom became famous thanks to his very particular style.

Charles-Guillaume Diehl was a German furniture maker naturalized French in 1872, specialized in the creation of small furniture. His production is known for the furniture often made with rare woods, adorned with bronze and very luxurious His mastery is rewarded with a silver medal during the International exhibition of 1867 in Paris. He also participated in many other exhibitions like L'Exposition des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'industrie in 1869, the International Exhibition of Vienne in 1873 where he won a progress medal and the International Exhibition of Paris in 1878 where he was out of contest because his past successes Until his death, he made numerous furniture pour the Parisian and International high class.
The furniture maker style – in his beginning specialized in furniture inspired by the 18th century inlaid with precious woods or in the Boulle marquetry taste – evolved in the 1860's. Indeed, from those years, Charles Diehl creates furniture in a taste more personal by using ornaments inspired by the Greek and Egyptian Antiquity and presenting decors almost fantastics. For the International Exhibition in 1867, he collaborates with famous artists known for their important imagination, the French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet (1824 – 1910) and the drawer Jean Brandely (active between 1867 et 1873). He wins a silver medal for a series of boxes including one inspired by the Renaissance period made of ebony with bronze and silver bas-relief depicting salamanders and another one in blue marble adorned with gild bronzes bought by Napoléon III for his cousin the Princess Mathilde. He also wins a bronze medal which he refuses for three furniture, a big table, a library in a Etruscan style and a medal furniture kept in the Orsay Museum in Paris. Thus, because of some stylistic analogies with some Emmanuel Fremiet sculptures, it seems that the meeting between the two artists could be the origin of Charles Diehl's stylistic evolution giving birth to a specific artistic creation, particularly recognizable in the Parisian cabinet making of the second half of the 19th century.