Etienne Marie Alfred GARNIER (1848-1908) Lot n° 2

" Trèfles " Rare gilt bronze bowl decorated with clover leaves in slight relief enclosing a half-hemispherical container in polychrome enamel with silver inclusions decorated with butterflies and floral motifs on a cream background. Monogram " AG ". Circa 1901. H : 13,5 cm (beginning of crack at the foot) Bibliographie : Black and white model reproduced in " The Paris Salon ", volume VI, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, page 279. Etienne Marie Alfred Garnier (1848-1908) was a painter, engraver, enameller of the second half of the 19th century. He was a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel considered to be one of the greatest academic painters of the Second Empire. Garnier's works remain rare on the market but we can find traces of his talent in the salons of Paris where he exhibited from 1874 to 1878. Alfred Garnier's Parisian workshop was just as famous as that of his colleagues with whom he sometimes collaborated, such as the famous goldsmith and enameller Paul Grandhomme, Fernand Thesmar and Georges Jean. The Musée d'Orsay collections include six objects made by Alfred Garnier and Paul Grandhomme. The cup we are presenting to you, probably a unique piece, bears Garnier's monogram only and remains one of the rare testimonies of his work that has come down to us.