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- This plaque and another in the Wallace Collection (F296) are examples of the outstanding skills achieved at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries by Parisian bronze workers. Gilded and chased to an exceptional degree, with exquisite burnishing and matt areas which enhance the 3-dimensionality of the trophy depicted, it is not known who is responsible for this work.
Examples of furniture by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) are mounted with similar gilt-bronze trophies, but of a different format without the matt background. Étienne Martincourt (c. 1730-1796) was a bronze worker who often collaborated with Riesener, turning Riesener’s 2-dimensional designs into 3-dimensional gilt-bronze mounts, and he is likely to have been responsible for modelling the master model of this trophy for Riesener. This plaque may also be the work of his workshop, or that of Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1823), who is known to have owned some of Martincourt’s models after his death.
It is likely that this and F296 were intended to be mounted on furniture and that sometime in the 19th century they were taken off and kept as art objects in their own right. Sir Richard Wallace acquired them in 1867, perhaps on behalf of the 4th Marquess of Hertford, when they were mounted in a special case and said to be examples of the celebrated Pierre Gouthière’s work. There is no basis for this attribution.
The trophy on this plaque represents Love, with its attributes of doves, a quiver and a flaming torch. It was first used, in marquetry form, on furniture by Riesener.
- This plaque and another in the Wallace Collection (F296) are examples of the outstanding skills achieved at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries by Parisian bronze workers. Gilded and chased to an exceptional degree, with exquisite burnishing and matt areas which enhance the 3-dimensionality of the trophy depicted, it is not known who is responsible for this work.