19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU CHENETS
19TH CENTURY
One depicting Venus and the other Vulcan, each classically draped and seated, on a stepped moulded base decorated with spread-winged dragons, on a concave-fronted plinth with foliate sabots
15 in. (38 cm.) high; 9½ in. (23.5 cm.) wide; 6¾ in. (17 cm.) deep (2)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

A pair of chenets of this model, at Drottningholm Castle near Stockholm, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol.I, p.71 fig.1.10.8. Similar figures, but seated on different bases, appear on a pair of Regence chenets which are in the Residenz of Ansbach and were bought in Paris between 1719 and 1729 by Carl William Friedrich, Margrave of Ansbach. Interestingly, these figures continued to be employed by bronziers of the Louis XV period such as the chenets from the Thelma Chrysler Foy collection, sold Christie's, New York, 24 May 2001, lot 163.

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