Pierre-Philippe THOMIRE (1751-1843). Middle of a table or centerpiece in finely chased and silvered bronze, the openwork bowl with vine leaf motifs is supported by a fluted column ringed with large acanthus leaves, to which statues of the divinities Flora, Ceres and Pomona, draped in antique style, are leaning with their respective attributes. The base is underlined by heart-shaped friezes and decorated with staples and garlands of falling leaves and music trophies. Around 1810/1820 signed Thomire in Paris. Height: 79 cm - Diameter of the cup: 29 cm (Oxidation to the patina, a bunch of grapes and a small ewer would be missing, restoration on the outer edge of the basket and small cracks) Pierre Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). Sculptor, bronzier, founder, chaser and gilder, son of a Parisian chaser. Very young, he benefits from a very complete formation, after a formation of sculpture in the academy of Saint Luc in Rome, he specializes in the chiseling and returns in the workshop of Gouthière with whom he will perfect his technical knowledge. He settled down in 1776 and quickly became the most famous chiseller. He collaborated with great cabinetmakers such as Benemann or Weisweiler, but also with the Sèvres factory by supplying bronze mounts and mouldings. During the Revolution his reputation was made but it is with the Empire that he will give all the measure of his talent transforming his profession until then artisanal into industry. He is rightly considered as one of the most important craftsmen of the imperial period. Known and recognized, he participates on many occasions in the Exhibition of the products of the industry where he obtains rewards and gold medals, patents of supplier of their imperial then royal Majesties. The good fortune of his establishment is perpetuated under the name of Thomire and company. Several of these great pieces of furniture remain in large public and private collections. Thomire's workshops produced for all the courts of Europe with a very high level of quality. Thomire was known to supervise himself the chasing of the most important pieces. It is a whole workshop that evolves behind a master, the result of a cooperation with the best Parisian collaborators and craftsmen who are as much his workers as his pupils and who realize according to his directives the works that we know. The Odiot collection of the MAD includes a suite of eleven large colored sheets representing the middle of especially drawn to size of execution furnished with cut flowers or fruits and of which we reproduce the model of our especially (see illustration). Attributed to Louis Marie Cavelier or Pierre Paul Prud'hon for the drawing. It represents the regular collaboration between the goldsmith Odiot and the bronze worker Thomire during the imperial period. Thomire made a specialty of these large table tops, he was the first to have the idea of surrounding with a bronze gallery the mirrors that supported the many pieces that made up these sets directly inspired by ancient models of architecture and ornaments, works that disseminated through engravings the excavations carried out in Herculaneum and Pompeii until the Collection of interior decorations by Percier and Fontaine. This drawing, executed at full size, is important because it is from it that the sculptor established a first model in wax or clay. This was then cast into a first proof called copper and then chiseled into a second proof. The coppers were preciously kept and it often happened to Thomire to exchange them with Odiot during specific collaborations. Bibliography : Juliette Niclausse " Thomire fondeur-ciseleur 1751-1843. Its life its work. 1947. " Bernard Metman. "La petite sculpture du XIXe siècle, les éditeurs" Archives de l'Art français Tome 30, p 215,216 Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen" 1986. Related works: Catalog of exhibition "the decorative bronzes of Pierre Philippe Thomire, Leningrad museum of the Hermitage, 1984 p45 n°71. Large table top from the Wilanow Palace Museum (Warsaw-Poland) acquired by Stanislas Kostka Potocki for the Wilanow Palace, during his stay in Paris in 1808. Musée des Arts décoratifs : Middle of Surtout " Flore, Cérès er Pomone " Workshop of Jean-Baptiste Odiot around 1815. Graphite, pen and black ink, ochre wash, pink, red, blue, violet, green watercolor on paper H.131.5; I. 57 cm. Inscr. in brown ink b. d. A n°8 Flore / Cérès / Pomone " Stamp b. d. Collection / J.B.C. / ODIOT / n°351 ". INV.2009.174.134