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Ceramics from the Grandidier collection,
many from the Sichel Brothers, now housed in
the Musee Guimet.
Photograph in print; by 1920 (After Geffroy,
Le Louvre: architecture, mobilier, objet, Paris,
1920, p. 105)
Image courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de
France (Gallica) http://gallica.bnf.fr

August Sichel (1838-1886)

August Sichel (1838-1886) was a German-born art dealer who, In 1879 and 1880, August Sichel donated a number of enameled
along with his brothers Philippe (d. 1899) and Otto (1846-1891), was porcelains and cloisonné vessels and fragments to The Metropolitan
a major Asian art dealer in Paris in the 19th century. Among the Museum of Art.
Sichel brothers’ top clients was Ernest Grandidier (1833-1912), the
French industrialist and collector. The three brothers started their In 1894, Grandidier donated his entire collection of Chinese porcelain
commercial activities in Paris in the 1870s. Likely Grandidier bought to the Louvre and it is now housed at the Musée Guimet. The three
pieces from all three brothers: he purchased some pieces during main sources for Grandidier’s were the dealers in Asian art, Laurent
the auction of Auguste’s collection in March 1886 and continued Héliot (1848-1909), the Sichel brothers (Auguste, Philippe and Otto)
to buy after Auguste’s death, indicating a trading relationship with and Siegfried Bing (1838-1905)
the two remaining brothers. At least two of the Sichel brothers had
visited Japan, a country where Chinese porcelain circulated and
where collecting Chinese ceramics has a long tradition. They also
bought at auction, a well-known practice of art dealers of the time.

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