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Axel Vervoordt

Antiquaire

The Antiquaire studio spaces at Kanaal, which are the home of our Interiors & Design Practice

A modern vision on today’s antiquaire

For more than half a century, the Axel Vervoordt Company’s relationship with art and antiques has been a way to share our experiences of the world. We believe the best way to full inhabit a space is by being surrounded by architecture, furniture, art, and objects that are represented by the honesty of their materials and the purity of intent in their creation.
Jacques Chirac at Axel Vervoordt's booth at the 1984 Biennale des Antiquaires de Paris
The way one looks at things is of the utmost importance. Seeing is feeling with the eyes.

Selected objects

Pair of commodes - Francesco Bolgiè

This striking pair of neoclassical commodes in carved and lacquered wood is painted in two colours, with ivory motifs set against a bright blue background. A single high drawer is topped by a gray imitation marble surface and supported by fluted tapering legs. The front and sides of the commodes are decorated with a delicate pattern of flowers and leaves framed within a string of pearls, characteristic of the art of Francesco Bolgiè.

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Draped female figure

This female figure wears a tunic and a stola draped over her entire body and kept in place by a circular fibula (ancient brooch) on the left shoulder. Basalt is only very rarely used for antique sculptures. It probably originates from the Western Asian region, for instance from the basalt-rich region of Cappadocia. The stola was the traditional garment of Roman women, corresponding to the toga that was born by men. In ancient Rome, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to wear a toga.

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The Draped Femal Figue on view at Kanaal, Antwerp

Series of 4 Tapestries "Galleries and Garden Views"

This series of four pergola tapestries is a masterly example of the Galleries with pillars and flower pots tapestry type, as they are known in the archives. In each one a gallery of classical design is situated in a bucolic landscape. Four, five or eight columns with Corinthian capitals standing on a carved stone plinth support an entablature consisting of a moulded architrave and a frieze decorated with scroll-like motifs. The gallery is decorated with garlands and contains one or more large vases holding tall bouquets of a variety of flowers.

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Double Portrait of Christian, Duke of Saxony, and Marie, Duchess of Saxony, Lucas Cranach the Younger

The double portrait of Duke Christian and Duchess Marie belongs to a collection of 6 portraits of the family by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 4 of which are still in the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden. It is likely Elector August of Saxony (1526 - 1586), directly commissioned the artist to paint the portraits. Two double portraits were painted of his children: Duke Alexander of Saxony (1554 - 1565) with Duchess Elisabeth of Saxony (1552 - 1590), and their younger siblings presented here, the young Duke Christian I (1560 - 1591) and Duchess Marie (1562 - 1566) of Saxony.

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View selected objects