Date: 1867
Materials and technics: Ebony, ivory and gilded bronze
Dimensions: H. 365 cm x w. 170 cm
Inventory number: WPPO97
Room: 39
Léon-Joseph-Thomas Alessandri was a cabinetmaker and ivory craftsman specialising in tables.
He exhibited “a rotunda-shaped piece of furniture with a dome” in the Renaissance style and sculpted ivory mouldings and panels at the Universal Exhibition in 1867.
Alessandri surrounded himself with the best specialists: the decorator and designer of ornamentation Eugène Prignot, and two sculptors Carrier-Belleuse and Bernard. According to contemporary eye-witness accounts, Eugène Prignot designed the general shape of the piece of furniture and oversaw its construction, Carrier-Belleuse designed the four bas-reliefs (Architecture, Sculpture, Trade, Work) which decorate the base of the piece and Victor Bernard sculpted the figure of Victory on top of the dome. Alessandri’s display cabinet was very well received at the Universal Exhibition in 1867 and was awarded the gold medal.
D. M.
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