Paul Sormani (1817-1877) / Alice Peignot / - Lot 288

Paul Sormani (1817-1877) / Alice Peignot / Carrier-Belleuse [medaillier / jewelry chest] Exceptional small rosewood-lined cabinet adorned with 5 grisaille porcelain plaques & set in gilded bronze frames, resting on 4 gilded bronze pebble feet, forming a reserre or jewelry and medallion chest, it opens with a hinged and compassed cover on the front, mounted on a hinge, lined with light and precious wood marquetry revealing two compartments, one of which is lined with Carrara marble, and 5 drawers compartmentalized in two parts. The 5 porcelain plates, 3 large and 2 small, are decorated with Venus visited by Cupid, and groups of Angelots and Putti playing music in clouds. Three plates signed A. Peignot after Carrier-Belleuse or monogrammed A.P (the 2 small ones by the same hand) Cabinet signed on the bronze lock counterplate "P. Sormain, 10 rue Charlot, Paris" double-point lock, original steel and openwork bronze key. Also included: a cardboard honeycomb tray doubled with antique paper for displaying coins or tokens (two small missing moldings on the back). Paul Sormani (1817-1877) one of the greatest names in Second Empire cabinetmaking, and Empress Eugénie's most loyal customer. His work, said to be of "first-rate craftsmanship", led him to take part in the 1849, 1855 and 1862 exhibitions, where he won awards on each occasion. With the collaboration of Alice Peignot, a rare artist who presented the portrait of Empress Eugénie, painted on porcelain, at the 1854 Salon, as well as grisailles after Clodion and Thomire, little documented, she nonetheless remains an important artist of her time, as can be read in the article on the wonders of ceramics and the history of porcelain by A. Jacquemont in the French Bibliophile (1870). Jacquemont "Mademoiselle Peignot, whose talent is well known, treats above all grisaille with true originality, to which she knows how to give relief and character. She knows how to give relief and character, and she has her very own gris, Peignot gris, as it's called, which is soft, warm and perfectly suited to shading the porcelain flesh that the artist vigorously detaches from the curves of the vases...". Born in Dijon, Mademoiselle Alice Peignot, living at 17 rue de Chabrol in Paris, was a pupil of Mademoiselle Elise Maussion. Her presence at the Salon des Artistes Français and numerous citations in the Revue Artistique et Littéraire and in the Monteur des Arts, under the Second Empire, point to a woman artist of great quality. Her presentation of a portrait of Empress Eugénie at the Salon, and here her association with one of the greatest cabinetmakers of the time, beloved of the Empress herself, collaborating together on the creation of an exceptional work, suggest a prestigious comrade.