Minneapolis Institute of Art

Chevaux Marin (seahorse) chenet, one of a pair

FranceLinkedCulture matchlcp-b9a04028db62

Date

c. 1745–50

Medium

Gilt bronze, iron

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

116021

These andirons (firedogs) are decorated with sea-horses, which were sculpted as thoroughbred steeds, their hooves replaced with fins. The fact that sea-horses, which live in the water, are shown on fireplace equipment, refers to the ancient Greek theory that the cosmos is comprised of four, antithetical elements: fire, water, earth and air. Decorating a fireplace with sea-horses, symbols of water, would have been considered a clever juxtaposition. The concept of the four elements continued to be very much en vogue in France in the 18th century – at the same time, when science abandoned the concept, and the great chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) paved the way for the modern periodic table of elements in his Méthode de nomenclature chimique (1787). Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.