PAIR OF LOUIS 18TH CANDELABRA. BRONZE. FRANCE, CIRCA 1800.
Antiques - Miscellaneus / Other Objects
Reference: ZF1167
Pair of Louis XVIII candlesticks. Bronze (blued and gilded). France, circa 1800. A pair of six-light candelabra made of bronze, of a type commonly called "tripod" due to its shape. A base with three projections, situated on inverted truncated pyramidal architectural elements with reliefs and medallions on their outer faces, supports three seated sphinxes of burnished bronze with gilded tails. From their backs rise three stems, each ending in a child's head with butterfly wings, decorated with candelabra in relief and secured by an openwork band (note the spiral bouquet inside). From the heads rises a circular form with projections, upon which rests the candelabra's main axis, topped with a pomegranate on a floral composition. The candelabra arms, ending in wicks, feature delicate scrolls and rooster heads. Note the changing textures of the material and the great detail present in the architectural, vegetal, and figurative elements. The design of these vase-shaped candelabra was enormously successful, and numerous variations with slight modifications were subsequently created, including sphinxes and goat heads. On April 16, 1787, François Rémond (c. 1747–1812) supplied Daguerre with eight “girandoles en tripied” (as they were often known in the documents), identified by some experts with the eight candelabra of this model purchased from Daguerre by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, for Carlton House. The larger, ten-light model, featuring a vase and rooster heads, was created around 1786. A pair of candelabra of this model are recorded in the 1836 inventory of Legendre de Lucay's collection, and another pair is known to have been commissioned for Marie Antoinette's Salon des Nobles at Versailles. Compare the present example with the griffin candelabrum dated around 1785 in the Musée Nissim Camondo (Paris, France); or with the sphinx and stone vase candelabrum attributed to Francçois Rémond (dated between 1783 and 1786) in The Wallace Collection; or (with less similarity at the base) the late 18th-century pair attributed to Pierre Gouthière in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, and, in the same room, another pair by Pierre Gouthière, with reclining sphinxes and a stone vase in the center of the two three-light candelabras.
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