Bourdon Ghent, Holy water font with Corpus Christi, gilded brass with cabochons, Gothic.

Bourdon Ghent, Holy water font with Corpus Christi, gilded brass with cabochons, Gothic.

Belgium 1870s

Size: 12 cm W x 24 cm L

The studio was founded around 1811 by Ferdinand de Bruyne. The best-known part of his oeuvre was executed in the Neo-Gothic style popular at the time. Later, the studio was taken over by his son-in-law Armand Bourdon (Sr), known as Bourdon-De Bruyne (1818–1903). His son Armand Bourdon Jr. worked with the Wolfers brothers under the name 'A. Bourdon et Wolfers Frères'. These three generations of Bourdon kept the business going for more than 150 years.

The workshop employed several renowned goldsmiths. The architect Jean-Baptiste Bethune designed, among others, the Belgian Tiara for Pope Pius IX and the crown of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen. The 1885 reliquary of Charles the Good in the Salvator Cathedral in Bruges and the shrine of Saint Trudo in the Church of Our Lady in Sint-Truiden also bear his signature.

A chalice from the Bourdon workshop, decorated with gemstones, is preserved in the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. During the Neo-Gothic period, the workshop received various commissions from the high clergy. A famous work is the bishop's staff of Monsignor Stillemans, which is kept in Sint-Niklaas. The largest collection of goldsmithing from the workshop can be found in the Abbey of Maredsous.