Wonderful antique French Napoleon III era benetier or Holy water font, champleve enamel on gilded bronze and mounted on a solid white marble plaque! Always drawn to these, and we can never keep them in inventory. The beautiful old champleve enamel work always reminds me of the stained glass in the old cathedrals of France. This one is beautiful and exceptionally well preserved. Lots of photos to review. The backing is beautifully shaped white marble, heavy and with only a few small nips/chips. The holy font is 9.5" tall.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, we don't often find these without any flaw to report, no chips or cracks, so the small nips to the outer points on this one isn't uncommon at all. No loss to the champleve kiln-fired enamel work. Napoleon III era, c.1848-70s. Superb, and just recently in from France.
