The Four Elements by Bapst et Falize

A hardstone, gold and enamelled ewer by Bapst et Falize emblematic of earth, wind, fire and water, the circular ribbed
hardstone body carved from green jasper (extracted from the earth), the gold and enamelled handle in the form of a
mermaid confronting a salamander with a coral bead between its jaws (representing the opposites of water and fire),
the spout of the vessel supported by the enamelled head of Zephyr with fully expanded cheeks (representing the wind),
the lid surmounted by a seated Poseidon with a trident at his side (representing water).  Further allegories of
the sea are found in an openwork frieze of warring hippocamps and centaurs. 

Exhibited by Bapst et Falize at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and
by Falize Frères at the 1901 St. Petersburg exhibition.

Illustrated:

‘Falize, A Dynasty of Jewellers’, by Katherine Purcell, p.77.

Total height (from top of salamander to foot): 28 cm.
Width (from spout to salamander): 15 cm.

This rare example of goldsmith’s work by Bapst et Falize recently emerged from obscurity, and demonstrates the firm’s
favourite technique of enamel as seen in the champlevé enamelled foot, the translucent enamelled salamander and frieze,
and the figures enamelled en ronde bosse, a medium in which Jean Garnier, one of Lucien Falize’s favourite enamellers,
excelled.  Employed by the firm for sixteen years, Garnier was offered 100,000 francs by an unscrupulous dealer to
guarantee the piece as a sixteenth century work of art, so convincing was the artist’s tribute to the Renaissance. 
When Garnier died, Falize commented on the virtuoso enameller ‘We no longer have anyone who can model like
him, cast in gold, chase and enamel a delightful figure, like the exquisite works which adorn the
Galerie d’Apollon and the Green Vaults’.

The form of this work is probably based on that of a seventeenth century sardonyx, gold, enamelled and jewelled ewer
with mounts by Pierre Delabarre in the collections of the Louvre.  This piece, which dates from 1630 to 1635, was
acquired by Louis XIV prior to 1673.  Its body is of similar lobed form and the handle is composed as a grotesque
dragon counterpoised on the head of a hearm.  It has been suggested that the use of heliotrope and the rayed carving
of the body is an intentional reference to Louis XIV, the Sun King.  The ewer was stolen from the Louvre in 1830,
and it subsequently entered the collections of Alexander Beresford-Hope.  It was however reproduced on a
number of occasions and most significantly in the Revue des Arts Décoratifs, 1881-1883 (p.162),
where it would undoubtedly have been seen by Falize, who was a regular contributor to the
publication.  It was re-acquired by the Louvre in 1971 and is presently on show at the Galerie d’Apollon.