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Lot Essay
Designed in the Louis XIV 'antique' manner, with its reeded and acanthus-wrapped vase stem, female caryatid heads representative of Diana and cherubic masks emblematic of the Winds, this chandelier is related to documented patterns by the ébéniste du roi André-Charles Boulle (1641-1732). Although no direct pattern for this chandelier has so far been traced, two drawings attributed to Claude Ballin in the Tessin Collection display closely related elements. The first, dating from circa 1685, depicts a chandelier with very similar husk-trailed panelled S-scroll branches supported by putto-masks with C-scroll head-dress of this identical form, whilst the second shows acanthus leaves wrapping the branches and S-scroll volutes flanking a central vase. Now held in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, they are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, Vol.11, pp.50 & 54, figs, 1.6.2 & 1.6.9.
A further engraving, first published by Daniel Marot in his Nouveaux Livre d'Orfevrie Inventé par Marot Architecte du Roi of 1710, although conceptually of twenty or thirty years earlier, illustrates several chandeliers with lambrequin-capped female masks, as well as the distinctive acanthus-wrapped S-scroll arms.
A chandelier of almost identical form and undoubtedly from the same workshop, save for the slightly different corona, was sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 124. Another of this basic model was sold from the collection of Rodolphe Kann, Paris, 1907 tome II, lot 153. A chandelier with very similar stem, attributed to Boulle, is illustrated in T. Strange, French Interiors, Furniture, Decoration, London, n.d., p.143, whilst a further example was exhibited in 'Louis XIV Faste et Décors,' at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1960, no.195.
ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE
André-Charles Boulle was awarded the title of master cabinet-maker before 1666 and in 1672 was granted the Royal priviledge of lodging in the Galeries du Louvre. In the same year, Boulle was appointed cabinet-maker and sculptor to Louis XIV, allowing him to produce works in gilt-bronze, such as chandeliers, wall-lights and mounts for his own furniture. Although strict guild regulations usually prevented artists from practising two professions simultaneously, Boulle's favoured position allowed him protected status and exempted him from the guild rules.
A further engraving, first published by Daniel Marot in his Nouveaux Livre d'Orfevrie Inventé par Marot Architecte du Roi of 1710, although conceptually of twenty or thirty years earlier, illustrates several chandeliers with lambrequin-capped female masks, as well as the distinctive acanthus-wrapped S-scroll arms.
A chandelier of almost identical form and undoubtedly from the same workshop, save for the slightly different corona, was sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 124. Another of this basic model was sold from the collection of Rodolphe Kann, Paris, 1907 tome II, lot 153. A chandelier with very similar stem, attributed to Boulle, is illustrated in T. Strange, French Interiors, Furniture, Decoration, London, n.d., p.143, whilst a further example was exhibited in 'Louis XIV Faste et Décors,' at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1960, no.195.
ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE
André-Charles Boulle was awarded the title of master cabinet-maker before 1666 and in 1672 was granted the Royal priviledge of lodging in the Galeries du Louvre. In the same year, Boulle was appointed cabinet-maker and sculptor to Louis XIV, allowing him to produce works in gilt-bronze, such as chandeliers, wall-lights and mounts for his own furniture. Although strict guild regulations usually prevented artists from practising two professions simultaneously, Boulle's favoured position allowed him protected status and exempted him from the guild rules.