Style Orientalism / Ref.12775

Charles Guillaume DIEHL, Pair of Orientalist Pedestals Adorned with Sphinxes, 1867 Paris Exhibition

This pair of tripod stands in black lacquered wood with finely chiseled bronze ornaments was created by Charles Guillaume Diehl and was very likely exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exhibition.

Trained as a tablet-maker, cabinetmaker Charles Guillaume Diehl (1811-1885) specialized in the creation of small furniture pieces made from rare woods, adorned with refined bronzes of unparalleled luxury. In the 1860s, Diehl began creating furniture in a more personal style, employing an ornamental vocabulary inspired by Greek and Egyptian antiquity, with a decorative grammar bordering on the fantastic, as seen here with the hybrid sphinxes. He notably participated in the World’s Fairs of 1867, 1873 (where he won a progress medal), and Paris in 1878, where he was ranked hors concours due to his past successes.

These two stands belong to this luxury production. They rest on three curved legs adorned with bronze lion heads at their extremities. Their feet are connected to a concave-edged tray on which an Orientalist censer decorated with masks wearing nemes is placed. The blocks are adorned with lion heads holding a ring in their mouths, through which a chain passes, connecting to the upper part of the stands. The ornamentation on the upper section is particularly rich: the chain motif is repeated; the wood is engraved with fluid golden abstract patterns; and bakelite cartouches imitating lapis lazuli enhance the preciousness of the ensemble. At the top, three fierce-looking hybrid animals wearing nemes adopt the stance of sphinxes.

An old label under one of the stands allows us to confirm that the stands were displayed at Diehl’s booth during the 1867 Paris Exhibition, where the cabinetmaker won a silver medal for tablet-making and a bronze medal for furniture.

Due to stylistic similarities with certain works by Emmanuel Frémiet, it appears that the encounter between the two artists was at the origin of Charles Diehl’s stylistic evolution, giving rise to a specific artistic creation that is particularly recognizable within Parisian cabinetmaking of the second half of the 19^th century.

Galerie Marc Maison possesses another pair of stands by Diehl in wood and bronze (reference 12995), this one adorned with fierce-looking silvered beasts and similarly Orientalist but more geometric motifs.

These stands reflect the hybrid nature of the creator’s inspiration, allowing him to produce a work that is not purely Egypt-inspired but enriched with the cabinetmaker’s own ideas and other sources of inspiration, resulting in greater refinement.