A French 'Japonisme' gilt and patinated bronze and onyx centerpiece the design attributed to Eugène Cornu, Paris, circa 1870

The present centerpiece is related to a group of similar works which design has been systematically attributed to Eugène Cornu. Simultaneously this centerpiece is evocative of the rediscovery of new materials and decorative vocabularies influenced by the West’s expanding colonies and trade routes in the East in the 19th century. Indeed, the present example illustrates the popularity of Algerian alabaster - also known as onyx - as well as the ‘Japonisme’ style characterized by scrolls, cloud shapes, birds including peacocks and cranes, dragons, elephant heads and simulated bamboo.

Eugène Cornu

The sculptor and bronzier Eugène Cornu (d. 1875) was a prominent Parisian artist who enjoyed new mediums and had a particular interest in Algerian marble and onyx mines. Working closely with G. Viot, he exhibited extensively at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867. He also exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1874 and was a director of a bronze foundry as well as several other establishments in Paris. Amongst his numerous entreprises and partnerships, the one with G. Viot et Cie was the most successful and both were recorded at the premises of G. Viot & Cie. as 'The Algerian Onyx-Marbles Co.', 24, boulevard des Italiens, Paris. They both had a huge success at the London 1862 and Paris 1867 Exposition Universelle, consequently winning the médaille d'or in 1867.