Cheminée exceptionnelle d’époque Renaissance aux...

Exceptional Renaissance mantel bearing the coat of arms of Philippe Merlan Baron de Montpont (1503-1546). Executed in 1534 for the Château d'Arnay-le-Duc, Burgundy. MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS 1534, engraved in a recessed compartment and in the center of the base of the mantel hood; Merlan family coat of arms: "Gules a golden lion holding in its dexter side a silver crescent surmounted by a star of the same, on a chief of azure three martlets sable", visible on either side of the frieze underlining the mantel cornice; IL N'EST QU'ADRESSE - DE GRAND BIEN MÉRITE, Merlan motto engraved on the lintel. PROVENANCE Executed in 1534 for Philippe Merlan (1503-1546), baron de Montpont, seigneur de Jully-lez-Arnay-le-Duc, controller and general of finances in Burgundy and Bresse under François 1er, at his château in Arnay-le-Duc, Côte-d'Or, Burgundy-Franche-Comté region; owned by his son, Gabriel Merlan (1528-1562), Baron de Montpont and Lord of Jully-lez-Arnay-le-Duc like his father, Treasurer of France and General of Finance in Burgundy and Bresse; collection, after 1562, of the de Chabot-Charny family; sold in 1634 by Françoise Bernarde de Montessus, countess of Charroux and widow of Charles de Chabot, marquis of Mirebeau, to Henri ii de Bourbon-Condé (1588-1646), first prince of the blood, peer of France and grand veneur of France; collection until 1675 by his son, Louis ii de Bourbon-Condé (1621-1686), known as le Grand Condé, famous conqueror of Rocroi (1643); returned in 1675 to the de Chabot family, who held it until 1778; during this period, the lands of Arnay passed from the Chabots to the Rohans, then from the latter to the Brions through marriage; sold in 1778 by Marie-Louise-Julie-Constance de Rohan, Countess of Brionne, to the royal house of the Dames de Saint-Cyr, who kept the château until the Revolution; seat of the municipality, it was sold in 1792 as a national asset; It was then passed from hand to hand until, in the mid-1860s, it was bought by Jean-Francois-Henri Bouruet (1801-1870), one of the wealthy owners of the famous "Au Gagne-Petit" stores in Paris, who proceeded to strip it of much of its woodwork, sculptures and eight fireplaces, including the one shown here; after this date, the mantel was reassembled in one of the rooms of the neo-Renaissance château de Villemenon in Servon, Seine-et-Marne, which Jean-François-Henri Bouruet had built for himself during the same years; it remained there until the present day; sold after M. Bouruet's death in Sold by his heirs after Mr. Bouruet's death in 1870, Château de Villemenon was successively owned by Mr. Jeanson from 1870 to 1875, Mr. Boutet from 1875 to 1911, Mr. Drouin, Mr. Méhu, a Paris banker, and finally Hélène Martini (1924-2017), the famous director of theaters, cabarets and concert halls, nicknamed the "Queen of Parisian Night". A masterpiece of the early French Renaissance, this imposing carved mantel in Tonnerre (Yonne) stone was executed under the reign of François 1er in 1534 for Philippe Merlan (1503-1546), Baron de Montpont, Seigneur de Jully-lez-Arnay-le-Duc, Controller and General of Finances in Burgundy and Bresse, to adorn one of the main rooms on the second floor of his château in Arnay-le-duc, in the Côte-d'Or region of Burgundy-Franche-Comté. It features a richly sculpted decoration, dominated on the front of its right hood by two large oblong bas-reliefs showing naked horsemen, participating in a lion hunt on the left, and clashing on the right, Allegories of Hunting and War flanked by beveled borders with square compartments, richly decorated with winged cherub heads and leafy vases, lined with oval friezes, all set off by pilasters with capitals and very fine arabesque decorations.