Elegant table objects, the coolers were used to keep drinks cold until the middle of the nineteenth century.

Presentation of this ancestor of champagne bucket.

 

 

"The poor have ice in winter and the rich have in summer." This old saying illustrates beautifully the fact that from antiquity to the mid-nineteenth century, the very cold dishes were strictly reserved for the powerful kingdom. Indeed, before the advent of refrigeration in the nineteenth century, natural ice collected in winter, then stored in small sealed well known as coolers, almost exclusively found in the castles. They can still be seen in the parks of Versailles or Chantilly.

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It is always interesting to discover new creative centers. Let's look today at the art of Liege which has too often been regarded as "regional." Always close by the spirit of Paris, the artists of this state managed to shine by their own originality. Flémal Bertholet, Liege painter, painted the ceiling of the courtroom at the Tuileries for Louis XIV.

Let us have a look on the production of this region.

 

How to spot them ?

 

Any lover of antique furniture will notice in Liege furniture Louis XIV and Regence motifs. That's why it is named "Regence Liège" style that will last throughout the eighteenth century Rococo without ever really had any significant influence. One of the key particularities is the symmetry of asymmetric carving. It will be the same for the style of Louis XVI, which appears in Liege in 1780 but is still influenced by older decorative motifs.

 

 

Commode arbalète à traverse apparente en chêne sculpté à trois rangée de trois tiroirs ornés d’un cordonnet et de rocailles symétriques, pans légèrement arrondis, plateau en chêne et piétement chantourné avec des pieds en pattes de lion, Liège, vers 1750.

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During the exhibition "Mois du dessin" in Paris, the gallery Tarantino presents " Paint in Rome: pictures and drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries".  Among the exposed works, a rare drawing of Giovanni Guerra uses introduction to the chronological journey.  Our expert analyzes this drawing recently discovered and publishes for the first time in this exposition, opened until April 21 2011.  

 

 

 

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Three artists, Edouard Traviès, Leon Danchin and Boris Riabouchinsky said RIAB, dominate the market of engraving and the lithography with hunting topic today. Each one, in a distinct style, transmits the art of hunting to us through his perception of the animal. The man is always absent from these works and their talent lies in the perfection of the animal representation.

 

 

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Symbol of elegance, refinement, luxury and smoothness, the porcelain was in the centre of all covetousness’s during the 18th century. Jealously envied by Europeans Eastern, the porcelain exerted an immense fascination lasting of the centuries.

 

It is at the end of 13th century, in 1295, that the first porcelain parts make their appearance in Occident. Imported from China to Venice by Marco Polo, the “porcella” causes a passion growing in Europe.

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Chez Cax gallery was a former butchery and became a retro flea market, in Angouleme, where you can find very atypical items and furniture, from the 20^th century and especially from the 50’s to the 70’s.

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