Art Nouveau Gilt Bronze Fox Catchall Tray by Albert Marionnet, 1890s

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This exceptional French Art Nouveau vide-poche (trinket dish/catchall tray) is a beautifully cast work by the renowned Parisian artist Albert … Read more This exceptional French Art Nouveau vide-poche (trinket dish/catchall tray) is a beautifully cast work by the renowned Parisian artist Albert Marionnet (1852-1910). Uniquely, Marionnet was both the creator and the maker of this piece. Unlike many sculptors of the era who outsourced their casting to external commercial foundries, Marionnet was a trained sculptor, master ciseleur (chaser/engraver), and foundeur (founder) who operated his own art foundry workshop in Paris. His complete control over both the creative design and the manufacturing process ensures exceptional casting quality, highly collectible status, and representation in the permanent collection of the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
Spanning a generous 18.5 cm in width, this larger-format dish features a meticulously modelled, three-dimensional fox peering over a naturalistic background composed of embossed grapevine leave and clusters of grapes. Marionnet's personal mastery as a ciseleur is evident in the crisp, hand-finished detailing of the fox's fur and the organic texture of the foliage, The piece displays a gorgeous dual-tonality, blending its original gilded highlighting with a rich, dark, authentic aged bronze patina nestled in the relief carvings. The top face of the tray bears the crisp, fluid, incised script signature "A.Marionnet". The reverse is stamped with "FRANCE" and "DEPOSE" (indicating a registered and legally protected design from the era). Demonstrating classic period-foundry craftsmanship, the dimensional fox element was cast as a separate piece and sits tightly flush, secured cleanly from underneath by its original slot-head screws. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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