FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (1810 - 1892) Pair of polychrome cloisonné enamel horn vases Stylized floral motifs on a blue background Mobile side rings decorated with gules dragons Resting on four claw feet Signed on the outside bottom "F. Barbedienne Height: 23 cm The first World's Fair in London in 1855 saw the birth of a collaboration between two of the most avant-garde decorative artists of their time: Ferdinand Barbedienne and Louis Constant Sevin. Over a period of more than thirty years, they created numerous pieces of spectacular dimensions, but also of more modest size, in response to an abundance of private demand, as evidenced by our vases. Freely inspired by a fantasized Orient, known at the time as "Byzantine", the two friends' style revives the technique of cloisonné enamel, while featuring Arabian motifs on a colored background. The backgrounds of our two vases are typical of the period's fashion for turquoise-blue backgrounds, inspired by Iznik production and found in contemporaries such as Theodore Deck. This creative freedom fully characterizes the eclecticism of the Second Empire, of which Barbedienne and Sevin are worthy representatives.