Antique Gilt Bronze and Mother-of-Pearl Shell Compote / Vide-Poche with Marble Base Antique

Antique Gilt Bronze and Mother-of-Pearl Shell Compote / Vide-Poche with Marble Base AntiqueAdditional Description: A beautifully sculptural antique compote, featuring a natural mother of pearl shell dish raised on an intricately cast gilt metal base in the form of stylized foliage and organic stems. The mount is richly modeled with sinuous, plant like formsevocative of the Art Nouveau movementrising upward to cradle the iridescent shell. The surface of the shell displays exceptional nacreous tones, shifting between soft gold, rose, green,

typically copying or reinterpreting Old Regime portraits

Late 19th C compilation published in Edinburgh by Macniven and Wallace in 1883

and minor edge wear consistent with age

when elaborate scrollwork and asymmetrical ornament dominated interior design

maximalist

Marble base

The upholstery appears to be hand-stitched needlepoint

Varzy-Chateau polin / JM Berthot 1950

Sheffield Silver Plate Frame with Blue Velvet Back

These works were widely exported and prized for their refined craftsmanship and decorative appeal in sophisticated interiors

Domed finial and circular motifs are typical of the Second Empire (Napoleon III)

Harrach was a leading glassmaker of this period