Tazza cup in gilded bronze and cloisonné.

Elegant tazza in gilded bronze and cloisonné enamel.
 the base is signed F. Barbedienne ;
 H: 17.5cm diameter: 18cm
 Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1882) is a French industrialist and great bronzier of his time. He created and directed one of the most important art foundries of the XIX, he became the official supplier of the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie. Born in Normandy in 1810, Barbedienne quickly settled in Paris and ran a wallpaper store. He met Achille Collas and the two of them opened a foundry in 1838. Collas had already invented a machine that mathematically reproduced sculptures. Collas and Barbedienne sold worldwide plaster reductions of Venus de Milo. She then devoted herself to bronze after the antique. Barbedienne's idea is to democratize art to make it accessible, while being consistent in the reproduction of the work. This invention allowed him to stand out and to be at the head of a good reputation with the renowned sculptors of the moment, such as Antonin Mercié, Paul Dubois, Clésinger, Carrier-Belleuse ... He also touched decorative objects and of furniture. In 1862, he did not go unnoticed at the Universal Exhibition in London, with his works of art inlaid with enamels (first tests recorded in 1858). During the Universal Exhibition of 1878, he was compared to "a prince of industry and the bronze king".