Exceptional Rare Aesthetic Cabinet in Napoleon III Style
with Sevres & Narcisse Vivien Plaques on Doors. C.1870’S.
The cabinet was featured on Antiques Roadshow in 2004. Purported
to have been purchased at The Paris Exposition of 1878, for the amount of 450.00 L.
Attributed - Léon Marcotte (1824–1887)
New York and Paris
L. Marcotte & Co. (1860 - 1918): Decoration - Manufacturers and
Importers of Cabinet Furniture, Looking Glass Plates, and Frames, Gas Fixtures,
Bronzes, and all articles of Art - French Aubusson and Moquette Carpets
Leon Alexandre Marcotte (May
15, 1824 - January 25, 1887), known as a decorator and cabinetmaker whose
clientele included the affluent and sophisticated elite of New
York. Born in Valognes, Manche, France, attended the École des Beaux
Arts and trained as an architect in the studio of the leading neoclassical,
rationalist architect, Henri Labrouste. Marcotte came to New York in
1848. Marcotte’s exhibits at the Centennial Exposition at
Philadelphia and Paris Expo of 1878 marked a high point in the firm’s history.
Marcotte’s displays included ebonized woodwork and furnishings, and a large
carved cabinet with enamel plaques and oxidized silver mounts.
Marcotte’s aesthetic-style furniture encompassed all the exotic
influences that came to bear on American interior design during the last
quarter of the nineteenth century. Marcotte’s greatest known private
commission—the 1877–1878 decoration of Cyrus Hall McCormick’s house at 675 Rush
Street in Chicago—occurred shortly after the Philadelphia exposition.
Marcotte’s bid of $60,597 for the furniture, decorations, and woodwork was
higher than Herter Brothers’ ($53,370) and Pottier and Stymus’s ($53,742)
Narcisse Vivien - Paris, France Late 19th century
Pair of large 25" porcelain plaques on doors
by:
Narcisse Vivien, a professor of painting
at the Bernard Palissy School, was an animal painter specializing in birds,
active between 1875 and 1900. He exhibited several vases decorated with flowers
and birds at the Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris. He also
participated in the Salon des Artistes français in 1886. He was best known for
his remarkable, extremely realistic and colorful paintings of birds and
flowers. His porcelain works are in high demand.