Style Neo-gothic / Ref.15412

Eugène PIAT (in the spirit of), Exceptional Pair of Neo-Gothic Andirons with Dragons, second half of the 19th century

This exceptional pair of neo-Gothic andirons was created in the spirit of the sculptor Eugène Piat.

Frédéric-Eugène Piat (1827-1903) was one of the foremost French sculptors and ornament designers of the 19^th century, instrumental in the revival and development of the French bronze art industry. By the 1850s, he had already gained a solid reputation. He collaborated with the founder Louis Léon Marchand (1831-1899), and later with the Val d’Osne foundry. A member of the Réunion des fabricants de bronzes, he later became one of the founders of the Union Centrale des Beaux-arts appliqués à l’Industrie in 1864. In 1873, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour for his significant contributions to the French bronze art industry. He participated in the 1874 Salon, as well as nine World Fairs in the second half of the century, receiving the Grand Prix in 1889. He was renowned for the quality of his productions and the beauty of their historicist and eclectic styles.

This pair of andirons reflects the artist’s historicist approach. They support a pair of fireplace tools – a pair of tongs and a fire poker – along with two vertical bars. Resting on a quadripartite base adorned with scrolls, they are adorned with two symmetrical dragons, their paws resting on the upper bar, holding the lower bar in their mouths. At the top, each andiron ends with an openwork cup adorned with delicately curved lines. The tongs and fire poker fit perfectly into the scrolls where they attach.

The bronze work and chiseling are of exceptional delicacy. Every curve is perfectly defined, while all the straight lines are highlighted by a decorative geometric frieze of great precision. The dragons are rendered with great care, from their textured scales to their expressive faces. The symmetrical positioning of the two figures is enhanced by the fluid movement of their tails. Echoing this are the two animal heads atop the fireplace accessories, each holding a ring in its mouth.

Eugène Piat designed a pair of wrought and chiseled iron andirons in a style similar to this set (referred to as “late 15^th-century style”, according to the 1905 catalog of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of Troyes) for the Charles Morisot company, a Parisian manufacturer of bronze art and furniture known for its fireplace garnitures. Piat collaborated with Morisot, especially for the Paris Universal Exhibitions of 1867, 1878, and 1889. The supports for the firedogs in the Troyes museum, intended to hold the shovel and tongs, are also intricately crafted, and their upper sections feature openwork cups similar to those in this set. Additionally, their ornamentation draws on a fantastic bestiary reminiscent of the two dragons on these andirons, though in a more subdued manner. These firedogs were donated by Piat himself to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of Troyes in 1894, the year of its founding. A photograph of the fireplace set in situ was taken in the early 20^th century in this former museum. They are now housed in the Saint-Loup Museum.