WARNING: THIS CAST IRON INSERT HAS BEEN RESTORED BY REMOVING THE "GOLD" SURFACE, WHICH APPEARED, EVIDENTLY, AFFIXED AT A TIME AFTER ITS PRODUCTION.
NOW THE WHOLE THING IS MUCH MORE ELEGANT AND LIGHTER.
THIS VERY ORIGINAL CAST IRON INSERT WAS MADE BY THE SAME ART FOUNDRY THAT CREATED CAST IRON INSERT CODE 003B (IF NOT SOLD AT THE TIME OF THIS READING) AND USING THE SAME MOLDS AT LEAST AS FAR AS THE DECORATIVE PART (THE 4 PUTTI) WAS CONCERNED. FOR THIS THE COMMENT WILL BE THE SAME FOR THE TWO CAST IRON INSERTS.
In the oval in the center of the front, as if seated on a cloud (and thus in the high heavens) are two cupids. The one on the left clutches Cupid's bow, the one on the right the torch (representing love passion)...
Below, in each oval on the legs appear two more putti....
Mind you, this time they are not “angelic” (they do not have wings), they are, in short two earthly children... And in this guise one clutches a bundle of ears of corn, the other a bunch of country flowers.
I leave to you the interpretation of these depictions, and not taken one by one, mind you (that would be too easy), but as a whole...
Because, you see, an architect of antiquity (for it was architects, precisely, who “architected” these depictions) NEVER drew/designed at random and always had symbolism in mind.
CAST IRON INSERT THAT MORE THAN MANY OF ITS BRETHREN WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME A FIREPLACE ITSELF AND NOT REMAIN AT THE RANK OF AN ACCESSORY TO A MARBLE MANTEL.
PARIS. 1850-60, EXCELLENT OVERALL CONSERVATION.
