Vase Baccarat à l'éléphant en cristal gravé et bronze argenté, vers 1880 A Baccarat crystal and silvered bronze elephant vase, circa 1880 The baluster-shaped crystal vase engraved with a bird resting on a flowering branch, on an elephant resting on a naturalistic rectangular base and small scrolling feet, with two impressed factory marks to the underside, 11.5cm wide, 8cm deep, 20.5cm high (4 1/2in wide, 3in deep, 8in high) Footnotes: The celebrated model of this Baccarat vase was most likely inspired by the Elephant of the Bastille, a monument conceived by Napoleon I, as a colossal statue originally to be cast in bronze for the Place de la Bastille. However, it was never realized, and eventually only a plaster large model of the elephant was executed and remained in place from 1813-1846. For a similar example in the Japonisme taste, see Baccarat: La Légende du Cristal, Petit Palais Musée Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, 2014, p.55; and Baccarat: Two Hundred and Fifty Years, Rizzoli, New York, p.393, fig.4. A related Baccarat variation on the elephant vase motif sold at Bonhams, Fine Continental Furniture and Works of Art, London, 4 December 2008, lot 151; while another larger one sold at Bonhams Los Angeles, 8 December 2015, lot 1100. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing