CAST BY J.J. DUCEL ET FILS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, LATER PAINTED

A retailer of fine cast-iron ornaments, J. J. Ducel was recorded as supplying works through Paris as early as 1810 in the Pas-de-Calais. The factory was sold in 1878 to the Fonderie de la Haute-Marne and all of the firm's models were subsequently bought by the Val d'Osne foundry. However, prior to the firm's sale, critics at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle proclaimed that "Ducel is the great manufacturer of works in cast-iron, to whom Paris is so largely indebted for the grace and elegance that supply so many of the adornments of its streets". An engraving of the present torchère on an elaborately-cast plinth appeared in a catalogue published for the 1867 exhibition.