Style Other / Ref.12995

Charles – Guillaume DIEHL, Pair of wood and gilt bronze stands, International Exhibitions of 1867

This pair of three foot stands made of black painted wood and adorned with numerous finely chiseled silvered bronzes by the electroplating technic, was made by the French furniture maker Charles Guillaume Diehl (1811 – 1885) and presented during the International Exhibition of 1867.
The stands are composed of a small shelf encircled by a serrated decoration put on three feet. These, adorned with many bronze elements like the lion feet one the lower part, are joined by a strut. Three gilt bronze panthers are holding the shelf, each are put on a wood cube with bronze ornaments on the sides and insides that are holding a wood turned top finished with a bronze point.
The first strut is also adorned with bronze elements like three tops, each holding a ring, between heads of lions. On the center, the furniture maker added a wood pyramid adorned with gilt bronze. The lower strut shows gilt bronze element in each extremity and a fir cone on the center.

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.