MID-19TH CENTURY, THE GILT-LEAD ELEMENTS POSSIBLY EARLIER

Details

A FRENCH GILT-LEAD AND CARRARA MARBLE WALL FOUNTAIN
MID-19TH CENTURY, THE GILT-LEAD ELEMENTS POSSIBLY EARLIER
The upper section cast with two putti flanking a swan with outstretched wings and a lowered head, the background issuing reeds and bulrushes, above a low moulded Carrara marble pedestal and shell-form basin, above a truncated fluted column support
93 in. (236 cm.) high; 38 in. (97 cm.) wide; 29 in. (74 cm.) deep

Provenance

With French & Co., New York, June 1964.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, New York, 24 September 1998, lot 34 ($43,700).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

The present lot relates to a fountain executed by Jean-Baptiste Tubi in 1672 after designs by Le Brun. The fountain was one from a project for the entrance of the Théâtre d'Eau at Versailles. Tubi (d. 1700) was one of the most prominent sculptors of his time and received many royal commissions from Louis XIV. In 1750 the Théâtre d'Eau was destroyed and the sculptures dispersed. Tubi's fountain was later acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington (see F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries, London, 1987, p. 337, fig. 28.). Other related gilt-lead fountains were sold in the celebrated sale of Leopold Double's Collection, 30 May-1 June 1881, lots 332-334.

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