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Lot Essay
These festive goat-guarded thyrsic torchères borne by caraytic marble Bacchantes, companions of the satyr attendants at the Feast of Bacchus, reflect the Louis XVI antique goût Grec fashion promoted in the mid- l9th century by the Emperor Napoleon III's Musée Retrospective Exhibitions. Jean Beurdeley (d.1853) had been a principal supplier to Napoleon's Garde-Meuble Imperial, and these candelabra were manufactured by the celebrated firm during the management of his grandson Alfred Beurdeley Junior (d.1919).
The marble Bacchante figures, admired as being in the Clodion manner, originated from a late 1770s model by the sculpteur Jean-Joseph Foucou (d.1815) executed under the direction of the architect François- Joseph Bélanger (d.1819) for the hôtel Mazarin, Paris (see J.Bourne, Lighting, London, 1991, no. 322)
The Bacchic goats of the candle branches are directly inspired by a watercolor design for wall-lights attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur (now in the musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris). This model of wall-light was especially popular with the French Royal Family. A pair decorated Madame Adelaïde's grand cabinet at Bellevue and another pair, supplied to the comte de Provence at the Palais du Luxembourg was seized during the Revolution (J.-P. Samoyault, Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, Catalogue des Collections de Mobilier. I. Pendules et Bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 130).
BEURDELEY
Born in 1847, Alfred Beurdeley (d. 1919), took over his father's business in 1875. The shop was located at the Pavillon de Hanovre, while Beurdeley's workshops were at 20 and 24 Rue Dautancourt, Paris. The firm specialised in producing luxurious articles of the highest quality and was pre-eminent among Parisian ébénistes and bronziers, especially for the refinement of its ormolu. Beurdeley exhibited at the International Exhibitions, including Paris in 1878 and Amsterdam in 1883, and was awarded the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889.
The marble Bacchante figures, admired as being in the Clodion manner, originated from a late 1770s model by the sculpteur Jean-Joseph Foucou (d.1815) executed under the direction of the architect François- Joseph Bélanger (d.1819) for the hôtel Mazarin, Paris (see J.Bourne, Lighting, London, 1991, no. 322)
The Bacchic goats of the candle branches are directly inspired by a watercolor design for wall-lights attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur (now in the musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris). This model of wall-light was especially popular with the French Royal Family. A pair decorated Madame Adelaïde's grand cabinet at Bellevue and another pair, supplied to the comte de Provence at the Palais du Luxembourg was seized during the Revolution (J.-P. Samoyault, Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, Catalogue des Collections de Mobilier. I. Pendules et Bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 130).
BEURDELEY
Born in 1847, Alfred Beurdeley (d. 1919), took over his father's business in 1875. The shop was located at the Pavillon de Hanovre, while Beurdeley's workshops were at 20 and 24 Rue Dautancourt, Paris. The firm specialised in producing luxurious articles of the highest quality and was pre-eminent among Parisian ébénistes and bronziers, especially for the refinement of its ormolu. Beurdeley exhibited at the International Exhibitions, including Paris in 1878 and Amsterdam in 1883, and was awarded the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889.