Well of the Hotel de Cluny - Plaster reduction with wrought iron, late 19th century (H 48 cm)

Well of the Hôtel de Cluny (Reduction)

Unusual patinated plaster and wrought iron reduction of the Well of the Hôtel de Cluny.*, ornamented with a gargoyle of 'wild man' (François Sauvage)*.

Signature on the plaster base and monogram 'V.A.' on the wrought iron.

France, late 19th century.

Good condition. Some minor usage chips, old restoration (re-glued chip, visible in photos) under the plaster base.

Dimensions: Height 48 cm.

History of the Hôtel de Cluny and its well:

The Hôtel de Cluny is a building located in the heart of the Latin Quarter in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. This private mansion between courtyard and garden takes its name from the abbots of the Cluny order who, teaching at the Cluny college, made it their residence as early as the 13th century. The Hôtel houses the monks of Cluny but also some important dignitaries. From the 17th century until the French Revolution, it housed apostolic nuncios as well as private individuals.

Rebuilt in 1485 and 1510, incorporating some elements of the contemporary Louis XII style, this building shows how Parisian architecture is reluctant to the novelties brought from Italy and remains, as at the Tour Saint-Jacques, essentially faithful to the flamboyant Gothic style of the 15th century.

In 1843, the State made it a museum that has now become the national museum of the Middle Ages or Musée de Cluny.

In the trapezoidal entrance courtyard bordered by tall one-story buildings, there are two sundials as well as a well. The latter has a gargoyle in the shape of a 'wild man' that evokes François Sauvage, the controller of the silverware of Charles VIII, as well as a cast iron pulley from Germany, probably dated to the 15th century.

(source Musée de l'Hôtel de Cluny)