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Lot Essay
The distinctive pair of piping putti on these wall-lights is virtually identical to those on a Louis XVI ormolu chandelier of circa 1780 at Versailles, illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, 1986, p. 238, fig. 4.4.1. Also illustrated is a drawing for a chandelier with piping putti in the collection of A.M. Gandouin (H. Ottomeyer/P.Pröschel, op.cit., fig. 4.4.2). The drawing, which is considered the basis for the chandelier, has since been attributed to Jean-François Forty, dessinateur et ciseleur, who published circa 1775 Oeuvres de sculpture en bronze....
According to Ottomeyer and Pröschel, the chandelier has been traditionally attributed to the ciseleur-doreur Pierre Gouthière.
Similar pipe-blowing satyrs are also seen as mounts on a group of vases, which include a pair sold from the Alexander Collection, 30 April 1999, lot 149, a pair of vases at Waddesdon (discussed in G. Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes II, Fribourg, 1974, no. 210, pp. 778-9), and a pair of vases originally in the Russian Imperial Collection, which was sold by the Soviet Union in Berlin, Rudolph Lepke, 6-7 November 1928, lots 141-2, pl. 52.
The musical trophy pendants including cymbals displayed on the current wall-lights are related to the pendant backplates on a pair of wall-lights by Louis-Gabriel-Feloix sold from the Alexander Collection, 30 April 1999, lot 168, of which an identical pair was also originally in the Russian Imperial Collection, sold at R. Lepke, 6-7 November 1928, lot 134-5.
According to Ottomeyer and Pröschel, the chandelier has been traditionally attributed to the ciseleur-doreur Pierre Gouthière.
Similar pipe-blowing satyrs are also seen as mounts on a group of vases, which include a pair sold from the Alexander Collection, 30 April 1999, lot 149, a pair of vases at Waddesdon (discussed in G. Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes II, Fribourg, 1974, no. 210, pp. 778-9), and a pair of vases originally in the Russian Imperial Collection, which was sold by the Soviet Union in Berlin, Rudolph Lepke, 6-7 November 1928, lots 141-2, pl. 52.
The musical trophy pendants including cymbals displayed on the current wall-lights are related to the pendant backplates on a pair of wall-lights by Louis-Gabriel-Feloix sold from the Alexander Collection, 30 April 1999, lot 168, of which an identical pair was also originally in the Russian Imperial Collection, sold at R. Lepke, 6-7 November 1928, lot 134-5.