Empire style chest of drawers in lacquer, bronze and marble. Nineteenth century.

Empire style chest of drawers in lacquer and bronze, with detached columns, with its white-veined Ardennes gray marble. It opens on the front with two large drawers and a belt drawer, with a decoration, in cartouches, of the seabed in the central part and the surroundings of a watering hole on the side facades, representing koi carp within of marine – or aquatic – plants and reeds, on a background in celadon green tones. The drawer in the belt has an ornamentation in gilded bronze decorated with bunches of grapes and fine vine leaves on a background also in celadon green tones but noticeably different, the bronzes of the columns detached in the upper part decorated with a gadroon, a beaded frieze and falling acanthus leaves. The tapered base has a frieze of acanthus leaves in the upper part and inverted acanthus leaves in the lower part. The handles of the two drawers on the circular front are decorated with concentric circles and laurel wreaths, the Louis XVI style medallion-shaped keyholes, beaded and decorated with a ribbon, the frames of the cartouches decorated with ‘a fine regular frieze of acanthus leaves. Has his key. The lock signed “E. SCHMIDT À PARIS”.

Dimensions: H 89 x W 121 x D 61.5 cm

French work realized at the end of the 19th century.

Reference: LS40972157C

More generally, in Asian culture, the carp is a symbol of perseverance and courage because it tries to go upstream. A Chinese legend says that the Yellow River carp capable of jumping over the Dragon Gate transform into dragons and fly into the sky. This story emphasizes the symbolism evoked by animals, quite present in Chinese culture, which shows that efforts and courage can allow us to progress and overcome the difficulties of life, thus giving a nice message of hope and perseverance to the spectators who admire the carp! Celadon designates both a color and a type of ceramic specific to China and the Far East.

Céladon green”: this is a color name designating a shade of green. Celadon is particularly appreciated in Asia, because it produces the color of jade, a sacred stone in Chinese culture. The name cetadon is today almost always associated with porcelain, generally Chinese. In French, the origin of the word comes from Honoré d’Urfé’s novel, L’Astrée (17th century), one of the characters, Céladon, a shepherd, wears green ribbons.