Twelve-light torchère (one of a pair)

Pierre Philippe Thomire

ca. 1840 · Malachite veneered on copper, patinated bronze, gilt bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This urn and its companion, 64.163.2, are copies of a marble vase, known as the Medici vase, which is thought to have been made during the second half of the first century A.D. The brilliant green mineral called malachite which forms the surface of these torchères was mined in Russia, probably in the region of the Ural mountains 1500 miles to the east of Moscow. Factories were set up near the mines, where Russian workmen cut the malachite fragments into thin sheets and applied them to shaped metal forms. During the nineteenth century, these forms were sent in considerable numbers to Paris where they were enhanced by gilt-bronze mounts from such firms as Thomire et Compagnie. The museum has a much larger malachite vase with gilt-bronze mounts also signed by Thomire and dated 1819 (44.152a, b).

Artist

Pierre Philippe Thomire

Date

ca. 1840

Medium

Malachite veneered on copper, patinated bronze, gilt bronze

Culture

French

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Rodman A. de Heeren, 1964