The present vitrine is an impressive example of the skilled craftsmanship reached in the second half of the 19th century in France and Russia, as it combines gilt-bronze and the natural beauty of malachite to achieve an impactful, both practical and highly decorative, furniture piece. Whilst a vitrine is usually most and foremost a means to protect and display a collects ion of smaller items and by consequence a background to more precious pieces, the present example is surely a stat.mes nt on its own. The cabinet impresses for its scale, the contrast between the malachite and gilt-bronze figures, and simply with the mesmerizing vibrant colour of Russian malachite.
An almost identical vitrine, however devoid of malachite (ill. C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th century, 2013, p.241 -fig.2) indicates this particular structure for a vitrine originates from a single workshop most likely established in Paris and which enjoyed success amongst collects ors. Additionally, the extensive presence of malachite on the present vitrine suggests this was a commission by a wealthy collects or possibly a Russian who had access to supplies of malachite, very expensive especially in these amounts at the t.mes . By repute, it is thought that a similar vitrine is in the collects ions of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
Harmony between gilt-bronze and malachite
At their meeting at Tilsitt in June 1807, the French Emperor Napoléon received from the Russian Tsar Alexander I several magnificent gifts, including many malachite pieces that were later mounted in gilt-bronze by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter after designs by the architects Charles Percier and Pierre-François Fontaine. And thus the iconic duo of gilt-bronze and malachite was born: Russian malachite mounted with French gilt-bronze became highly fashionable among members of the French and the Russian Empire’s high society and collects ors of the t.mes .
The art of gilded bronze in France was already brought to its pinnacle at the end of the 18th century. The imagination of forms, casting, chasing and gilding had simultaneously reached a level of absolute perfection. And the revisited Antiquity imposed its sleek lines and vocabulary with the Greek and Roman mythology, history and literature providing the heroic and allegorical subjects used throughout the Decorative Arts of the t.mes . The gilt-bronze figures on this cabinet doubling as columns dividing the glazed doors are clearly inspired from Antiquity.
About 3,000 kilometers away, in Russia, malachite was becoming the ‘national stone’ of the country. With direct access to the Urals and Altai mountains, Russia had since the middle of the 18th century shown interest in geological exploration and mineralogy. A few years after the Peterhof lapidary manufacture founded in 1721 by Peter the Great, two other manufactories were founded, Ekateringburg in 1726 and Kolyvan in 1786. Due to the fragile nature of malachite, it was not initially possible to use it in large scale pieces, however the Russian lapidaries perfected a technique to compensate for this, known as `Russian mosaic': they would saw a piece of stone into thin plaques from two to four millimeters, carefully selecting them for their pattern. After grinding and polishing the stone, they would then glue these pieces to the metal or stone base skillfully masking the edges between each plaque of malachite. Here, the rather large malachite veneers arranged as to create elegant symMetricas
l compositions, point to the rigorous and clear compositional decisions of Russian craft.mes
n wishing to further promote the beauty of malachite.