Édouard LIEVRE (1828-1886) Rosewood and blackened wood display cabinet, opening to a bevelled glass door. It is adorned with a finely chased and openwork bronze frieze and enriched with brass fillet inlays. Moulded cornice and plinth Circa 1880 H. 197 cm - W. 97 cm - D. 63 cm (Accidents and restorations: two reinforcements on the back panels, slight discolouration of the side panels, with its key) Provenance : Jules Vieillard (1813 - 1868), director of the Vieillard et Cie factory. Roger Vieillard (1907 - 1989), French engraver and illustrator. Private collection Related work : A cabinet and a pair of wall mirrors in a comparable style, incorporating similar bronze friezes, are reproduced in the exhibition catalogue, Édouard Lièvre et son influence sur les Arts Décoratifs du dernier quart du XIXe siècle, publisher galerie Steinitz, 2014, p. 58 and p. 100 (illustrated). Settling in Paris around 1848, Édouard Lièvre gradually established himself as one of the great creators of decorative models in the Second Empire and early Third Republic. Trained by Théodore Valério and then Thomas Couture, he acquired a solid reputation in the 1860s thanks to his engravings and art books, notably the Catalogue des objets d'art du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance de la collection Sauvageot, produced with Alfred de Sauzay. His drawings became a major source of inspiration for furniture and luxury goods manufacturers. In the second half of the nineteenth century, his designs played a full part in the eclectic, historicist taste in vogue, fuelled by the influences revealed at the Universal Exhibitions, combining Gothic, Renaissance and Oriental repertoires. This showcase is a perfect illustration of this refined aesthetic, characterised by the richness of the materials and the quality of the bronze ornamentation, typical of the products associated with Escalier de Cristal. Expert : Arnaud Romieux