Attributed to SCHLEISSNER & SÖHNE Ewer and its... Lot 26

Attributed to SCHLEISSNER & SÖHNE Ewer and its basin to the procession of Bacchus and Ariadne in carved ivory. The silver-bronze and silver-bronze mount has a very rich bacchanal ornamentation. The central frieze of the ewer shows in low and high relief the chariot of Bacchus and Ariadne pulled by a leopard, satyrs and naked women getting drunk. The borders of the basin are decorated with female masks; the umbilicus shows languid Venus. Renaissance style, end of the 19th century. Height. 51 cm. for the ewer. Gross weight 3.131,3 g. Diam. 50.5 cm. for the basin. Gross weight 3.095,1 g. (missing and accidents to the ivory mainly on the ewer). Provenance: - probably acquired by Joseph Bieswal (1862-1929), owner of the Côte d'Or chocolates, Brussels; - by descent, Brussels. A photograph from the first half of the 20th century shows the ewer in the Bieswal's salon in Brussels. Ewer and its basin in ivory and silver depicting the procession of Bacchus and Ariadne attributed to Schleissner & Söhne at the end of the 19th century, from the Belgian collection of the founders of Cote d'Or chocolates. Bibliography for comparable models: - Marjorie TRUSTED, Baroque and later ivories, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2013. For a Schleissner ewer, ref: "LOAN:GILBERT.997:1-2008". - Wendell Stanton HOWARD, "The George A. Hearn Collection of Carved Ivories", The Gilliss Press, 1908, p.215, pl.178. - Philippe MALGOUYRE, Philippe PAGNOTTA, Histoires d'ivoire : collection du Musée du Louvre et des Musées de Châlons-en-Champagne, cat.exp., Châlon-en-Champagne, 7 July 2007-13 January 2008, p.104-109 for a basin from the former Salomon de Rothschild collection. - Hampel Auction, Munich, 4 December 2010, lot n°963. To extend: 360° view on rouillac.com. The ewer associated with its basin is a Germanic attribute of aristocratic splendour. In use since antiquity, it has been used to wash hands before eating. In the 19th century it lost its original function and b