French ormolu fireplace fender after Michelangelo

The ormolu (gilt bronze) fireplace fender features a long pierced and shaped body and is set at the centre with an ornate ormolu floral and foliate bouquet. At each end of the fender is a similar floral sprig, laden with ormolu buds and berries. Most strikingly, beside each sprig lounges a semi-nude figure on a wedge-shaped support. These figures are after the Renaissance artist Michelangelo—the direct source being the figures of Day and Night from the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici in the Sagrestia nuova at the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy.

On the left of the fender, the figure is after Michelangelo’s Day, a personification of the daytime—the face of the figure resembling the sun rising above the peak of his shoulder. On the left, the figure is loosely after Night, the personification of all things nocturnal—though the sculptor in this instance has taken more liberty with his rendition of Michelangelo’s original. The theme, then, is one of day and night, concepts well suited to a fireplace, which grants light during the hours of darkness.

The fender is composed of three parts (each end and the central body) and can thus its length can be adjusted to suit a range of fireplace sizes.

Length when open to greatest extent: 152cm.
Length when closed to least extent: 114cm.