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Lot Essay
Louis-Gabriel Floix, matre-fondeur in 1754
The attribution of this model to the fondeur Floix rests on a number of deliveries recorded in the ledgers of the Garde-Meuble in 1787. Floix, who collaborated with a number of important dealers such as the marchand-fondeur Quentin-Claude Pitoin, delivered several sets to the Garde-Meuble in that year, the first intended for Madame Adlade's bedroom at Versailles:
'Ordre 80 du 19 mars 1787...Floix fournira pour Madame Adlade Versailles 3 paires de bras trois branches, dessin arabesque, conforme au modle prsent Madame Adlade...', whilst the second was hung in Marie-Antoinette's bedroom at Saint-Cloud:
Mmoire d'Ouvrage de bronze faite (sic) et fourny Monsieur Hor pour le Garde-Meuble de la Couronne par Flois, fondeur-doreur. Pour le service de la Reine Saint-Clous, le 6 9bre. Savoir: Avoir fait et livr deux paires de bras teste d'aigle et guirlandes de fleurs, preste estre dor, destin pour la chambre coucher de la Reine St Clous, raison de onze cent livre la paire, fait pour les deux paires la somme de 2,200l.. The sum of 2,200 livres was paid to Galle for gilding. A fourth pair appears to have been cast and delivered along with the other three, but this was intended to remain in the Garde-Meuble (Ordre du 80 du 19 mars 1787 Floix fournira...Une paire idem, pour rester en magasin).
The Alexander wall-lights are almost identical to a set in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, London, 1996, vol. 3, p. 1422, no. 299, F374-7), except that they lack the thyrsus entwined with olive foliage that issued from the vase finial on the original model, as evidenced by its description in the Saint-Cloud inventory of 1780:
Deux paires de bras trois branches, chaque partie compose (sic) d'une tte de satyre au dessous de laquelle est une chte de branches de lierre enlasse avec attribut de musique termin par deux petits glands, surmonte d'un vase ornemens avec mufles de lions termin par une corne d'abondance, tyrse de laurier et pomme de pin...
In 1794, as objects deemed suitable for possible trade by the Revolutionary Government, the Saint-Cloud wall-lights were confiscated by the Commission du commerce pour les changes, and transported to the Garde-Meuble National. As P. Hughes has suggested, the Saint-Cloud ones are probably those acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in the late 19th century, and recorded, first in the 1871 inventory of the rue Taitbout and later in 1890 at Hertford House, in the Reynolds Drawing Room (op. cit., p. 1425).
A number of sets or pairs of wall-lights of identical design, but lacking the upper thyrsus are recorded. Of these, a pair originally from the Russian Imperial Collections, was subsequently sold in 1928 from the collections of the St. Petersburg museums (R. Lepke, Berlin, 6-7 November, 1928, lot 134-5) and it is interesting to speculate when this pair found its way to Russia. In 1798 the Emperor Paul I had lifted a ban on all imports from France for a special order of bronzes to be imported into the country for the furnishing of his palaces. Over 500 exceptional ormolu objets d'art were shipped to the Russian Court (I. Zeck, 'Bronzes d'ameublement et Meubles Franais achets par Paul Ier pour le Chteau Saint-Michael de Saint-Ptersbourg en 1798-1799', in Bulletin de La Socit de l'Histoire de l'Art Franais, 1994, pp. 141-157). Although no documentary evidence has yet come to light to support so hypothetical a provenance, the wall-lights, together with their matching barometer certainly coincide precisely with the Emperor and Empress's taste. Furthermore, a set of girandoles possibly supplied by Daguerre to the Russian Imperial couple and now at Pavlosk and the Hermitage present closely related branches terminating in eagle heads (P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dors Franais du XVIIIe sicle, France, 1987, pp. 316-317).
Other examples without the thyrsus cresting, possibly duplicating each other in this list, include a pair sold anonymously at Parke Bernet, New York, 5-6 November 1954, lot 51; a pair in the possession of G. Geoffroy in 1958; a pair with French & Co in 1973; a pair sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 37; and a further example discussed by Patridge in Recent acquisitions 1993, London, p. 68, no. 28; finally, a pair, complete with the upper thyrsus section from the collection of the Comtesse Alexandre de Casteja, was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 5.
The attribution of this model to the fondeur Floix rests on a number of deliveries recorded in the ledgers of the Garde-Meuble in 1787. Floix, who collaborated with a number of important dealers such as the marchand-fondeur Quentin-Claude Pitoin, delivered several sets to the Garde-Meuble in that year, the first intended for Madame Adlade's bedroom at Versailles:
'Ordre 80 du 19 mars 1787...Floix fournira pour Madame Adlade Versailles 3 paires de bras trois branches, dessin arabesque, conforme au modle prsent Madame Adlade...', whilst the second was hung in Marie-Antoinette's bedroom at Saint-Cloud:
Mmoire d'Ouvrage de bronze faite (sic) et fourny Monsieur Hor pour le Garde-Meuble de la Couronne par Flois, fondeur-doreur. Pour le service de la Reine Saint-Clous, le 6 9bre. Savoir: Avoir fait et livr deux paires de bras teste d'aigle et guirlandes de fleurs, preste estre dor, destin pour la chambre coucher de la Reine St Clous, raison de onze cent livre la paire, fait pour les deux paires la somme de 2,200l.. The sum of 2,200 livres was paid to Galle for gilding. A fourth pair appears to have been cast and delivered along with the other three, but this was intended to remain in the Garde-Meuble (Ordre du 80 du 19 mars 1787 Floix fournira...Une paire idem, pour rester en magasin).
The Alexander wall-lights are almost identical to a set in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, London, 1996, vol. 3, p. 1422, no. 299, F374-7), except that they lack the thyrsus entwined with olive foliage that issued from the vase finial on the original model, as evidenced by its description in the Saint-Cloud inventory of 1780:
Deux paires de bras trois branches, chaque partie compose (sic) d'une tte de satyre au dessous de laquelle est une chte de branches de lierre enlasse avec attribut de musique termin par deux petits glands, surmonte d'un vase ornemens avec mufles de lions termin par une corne d'abondance, tyrse de laurier et pomme de pin...
In 1794, as objects deemed suitable for possible trade by the Revolutionary Government, the Saint-Cloud wall-lights were confiscated by the Commission du commerce pour les changes, and transported to the Garde-Meuble National. As P. Hughes has suggested, the Saint-Cloud ones are probably those acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford in the late 19th century, and recorded, first in the 1871 inventory of the rue Taitbout and later in 1890 at Hertford House, in the Reynolds Drawing Room (op. cit., p. 1425).
A number of sets or pairs of wall-lights of identical design, but lacking the upper thyrsus are recorded. Of these, a pair originally from the Russian Imperial Collections, was subsequently sold in 1928 from the collections of the St. Petersburg museums (R. Lepke, Berlin, 6-7 November, 1928, lot 134-5) and it is interesting to speculate when this pair found its way to Russia. In 1798 the Emperor Paul I had lifted a ban on all imports from France for a special order of bronzes to be imported into the country for the furnishing of his palaces. Over 500 exceptional ormolu objets d'art were shipped to the Russian Court (I. Zeck, 'Bronzes d'ameublement et Meubles Franais achets par Paul Ier pour le Chteau Saint-Michael de Saint-Ptersbourg en 1798-1799', in Bulletin de La Socit de l'Histoire de l'Art Franais, 1994, pp. 141-157). Although no documentary evidence has yet come to light to support so hypothetical a provenance, the wall-lights, together with their matching barometer certainly coincide precisely with the Emperor and Empress's taste. Furthermore, a set of girandoles possibly supplied by Daguerre to the Russian Imperial couple and now at Pavlosk and the Hermitage present closely related branches terminating in eagle heads (P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dors Franais du XVIIIe sicle, France, 1987, pp. 316-317).
Other examples without the thyrsus cresting, possibly duplicating each other in this list, include a pair sold anonymously at Parke Bernet, New York, 5-6 November 1954, lot 51; a pair in the possession of G. Geoffroy in 1958; a pair with French & Co in 1973; a pair sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 37; and a further example discussed by Patridge in Recent acquisitions 1993, London, p. 68, no. 28; finally, a pair, complete with the upper thyrsus section from the collection of the Comtesse Alexandre de Casteja, was sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 5.