Japonisme ormolu and faience mounted wood jardinière

This beautiful jardinière is wrought from hardwood, ormolu, and faience. The rectangular body of the jardinière, featuring pierced sides and Japonisme style ormolu mounts and mythical beast masks, is raised by four curvilinear legs set with ormolu lizard mounts to the shoulders, the legs joined at the top by an ornate pierced apron and terminating in ormolu paw sabots. The legs support two shelves, the lower with a pierced wooden gallery. Both shelves are inset with faience plaques executed in a manner imitative of cloisonné enamel in a superb example of tromp l’oeil. The piece is in the style of Gabriel Viardot, one of the leading manufacturers of Japonisme style furniture working in France in the late 19^th Century.