19th C. Pair of French Ormolu Four Branch Wall Lights After Beurdeley Attrb. Henry Dasson. Of large size, of Louis XVI style, each with a lyre headed by Apollo's mask and roses garlands, issuing branches with fruited leaves, the nozzles conformingly decorated, the backplate with tied ribbon headed by a knot and a hung roses wreath, the base with tasseled elements, stamped with numerous letters and numbers. H 51" x W 10" x D 6". About: In 1875, Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley (1847-1919) was at first assistant to and later succeeded his father Louis-Auguste Beurdeley, one of the main cabinet-makers of the Second Empire, specialising in XVIIIth century furniture. Louis-Auguste was the star whenever he exhibited and was Å“most favored by the royal and imperial families”. Although he produced the same kind of works of art as his father, Alfred Beurdeley was also a very well-known art collector and a skilled bronze sculptor. With Dasson, Grohe, Sauvresy and Fourdinois, the most famous artists of the period, he took part in the 1878 Universal Exhibition and won the gold medal. Crowned with glory he went so far as to open a shop in New York. His participation in the 1883 Amsterdam Universal Exhibition drew considerable attention to his work and Alfred Beurdeley, Fabricant de bronzes dart” was then awarded the Ordre National de la Legion dHonneur, Frances hightest official mark of recognition. He thus won the respect of both the government and contemporary art critics. His last presentation was during the 1889 Universal and International Exhibition, when the director of the Exhibition wrote in his report : The talent of Mr Beurdeley is self evident when one inspects his furniture. Henry Dasson (1825 1896) was a renowned nineteenth century Parisian maker of gilt-bronze mounted furniture. Unlike other cabinetmakers of the time Dasson began his career as a bronze sculptor, and consequently one characteristic of his work is the quality of his bronze and more precisely of the chiselling. His Paris workshop was situated at 106 rue Vieille-du-Temple, where he specialised in the production of Louis XIV, XV and XVI style furniture using the finest gilt-bronze mounts. In 1871, he purchased the flourishing business and remaining stock of Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, known for the high quality of his furniture. It has been suggested that Dasson inherited the craft of ciseleur from Winckelsen. At the 1878 and 1889 Paris Expositions Universelles Dasson exhibited a number of pieces in the Louis XV and XVI styles, as well as pieces of his own modified eighteenth-century design. The exhibits in 1878 included a table entirely in gilt-bronze, purchased by Lord Dudley. His copy of the celebrated Bureau du Roi sold at the same exhibition to Lady Ashburton. Dasson ceased production in 1894, and at this time held a sale of his models, listed in 'Catalogues of drawings for art bronzes, style furniture and important decoration with rights of reproduction by Henry Dasson et Cie, manufacturer of art bronzes and cabinetmaker as a result of cessation of production..' The records from this sale show that Paul Sormani, as well as Joseph Emmanuel Zweiner, Maison Millet and Beurdeley acquired certain drawings and models by Dasson.