Lot Essay
A distinctive feature of this chandelier is the mermaid or 'naiad', the fresh water nymph, heading the circular dish, which element can be found on a pair of vases by the bronzier Friedrich Bergenfeldt circa 1805 (ill. I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, p.96), the original model for such pair having been supplied by the bronzier to the Imperial Hermitage in 1802. Interestingly, a vase featuring virtually identical horn-playing winged mermaids, was probably executed circa 1815 by Parisian bronzier Claude Galle (maître in 1786 and Fournisseur du Garde-Meuble under Louis XVI and the Empire) and is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 365, fig. 5.12.8.