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Lot Essay
Louis-Gabriel Feloix, maître-fondeur in 1754.
HISTORY OF THE MODEL
These beautifully chased and gilt wall-lights, of an imperious, classically-inspired design with Jupiter’s eagle grasping thunderbolts, a powerful image immediately associated with royalty, can be identified with an order from the Garde Meuble de la Couronne to Dominique Daguerre of 3 November 1788 for a delivery to the Cabinet de Garde Robe in the Appartment du Roi, (order no. 6), for wall-lights described as follows:
Pour le Cabinet du Roy à Versailles. Daguerre. Une paire de bras de cheminée à deux branches arabesques ornées de tourterelles et chaine dorés d’or mat (A.N O13291).
The same wall-lights are then described in Daguerre's mémoire of 3 November 1788 as 'Une paire de bras à deux branches terminées par un aigle, le tout en bronze très bien ciselé et doré au mat 672' (A.N O13649) and were delivered on 27 November 1788.
These wall-lights were subsequently described in even greater detail in a 1792 inventory for the Cabinet de Garde Robe in the Appartement du Roi as 'Une paire de bras à deux branches dorée au mate, nauée par un noeud de ruban, sur une gaine en forme de caducei, ornée de branches de laurier, surmontée d'un aigle éployé tenant des foudres dans ses griffes, portant 18 pouces de haut sur 9 pouces de large. 750' (these measurements are the equivalent of 18 in. high and 9 in. wide and correspond to the dimensions of these wall-lights).
The wall-lights were then possibly sold in the Revolutionary Sales of 1793-4 at the château de Versailles and are subsequently described in a catalogue published in Haarlem in 1794 along with thirty-seven other pieces of furniture and bronzes d’ameublement included in these Revolutionary sales (see Davillier, op. cit., no. 17).
The Cabinet de Garde-Robe was where the king conducted much of his daily business - it adjoined the king’s bedchamber, and looked out onto the Cour des Cerfs. Its furnishings included a fireplace of rouge griotte marble, and a commodes à portes by Weisweiler, also delivered by Daguerre, recently returned to Versailles, having latterly been in the collection of the Earls of Rosebery.
A pair of wall-lights of exactly this model (lacking the chains described in the first order of 1788 from the Garde-Meuble, but with holes indicating they originally had chains), previously in the collection of Sidney Lamon (sold Christie’s, London, 29 November 1973, lot 67), was acquired by Versailles in 1979 and installed in the Cabinet de Garde Robe (sold Sotheby’s, Parke-Bernet, 20 October 1979, lot 29).
Since 1979 five other pairs of this model have appeared at auction:
- The Keck Collection, Bel Air, Los Angeles; sold Sotheby’s, New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 14.
- Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 10.
- Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, Monaco, 9 December 1995, lot 232, lacking chains and holes.
- Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 25 May 2000, lot 363 ($380,000 exc. Premium).
- The present pair.
Of these pairs, only the pair sold at Sotheby’s, Monaco in 1995 lacked any fixing holes for chains, so in the absence of inventory numbers on any of the pairs cited, conceivably any of the other four pairs could in fact be those delivered by Daguerre in 1788.
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THE MODEL
Although no bronzier is mentioned in Daguerre’s bills for the delivery of these wall-lights, the model can be attributed to Louis-Gabriel Feloix on the basis of close similarities to other works by him. The intricately cast ribbon to the back plate and the cornucopiae-form arms with fruiting nozzles both feature on a set of four wall-lights delivered by Feloix, after a model by Quentin-Claude Pitoin, in 1781 to Marie Antoinette for her Cabinet Intérieur at Versailles. These wall-lights subsequently appeared at auction (The Alexander Collection, Christie’s, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 15, $1,817,500) where they were acquired by the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
LOUIS-GABRIEL FELOIX
Louis-Gabriel Feloix (1729-1812), the son of an engraver of the Paris Mint, had been received fondeur in 1754. Established in the rue des Boucheries and later the rue de Berri, he collaborated with the most important fondeurs and ciseleurs of the time, such as the Pitoin family and Godille, as well as with the marchands-merciers Darnault, Poirier and later Daguerre. In his stock inventory of 1789, a 'bras tierse (thyrsus) et corne d'abondance: 400 livres' was listed, which could well have been a simplified version of the wall-lights offered here.
.
HISTORY OF THE MODEL
These beautifully chased and gilt wall-lights, of an imperious, classically-inspired design with Jupiter’s eagle grasping thunderbolts, a powerful image immediately associated with royalty, can be identified with an order from the Garde Meuble de la Couronne to Dominique Daguerre of 3 November 1788 for a delivery to the Cabinet de Garde Robe in the Appartment du Roi, (order no. 6), for wall-lights described as follows:
Pour le Cabinet du Roy à Versailles. Daguerre. Une paire de bras de cheminée à deux branches arabesques ornées de tourterelles et chaine dorés d’or mat (A.N O13291).
The same wall-lights are then described in Daguerre's mémoire of 3 November 1788 as 'Une paire de bras à deux branches terminées par un aigle, le tout en bronze très bien ciselé et doré au mat 672' (A.N O13649) and were delivered on 27 November 1788.
These wall-lights were subsequently described in even greater detail in a 1792 inventory for the Cabinet de Garde Robe in the Appartement du Roi as 'Une paire de bras à deux branches dorée au mate, nauée par un noeud de ruban, sur une gaine en forme de caducei, ornée de branches de laurier, surmontée d'un aigle éployé tenant des foudres dans ses griffes, portant 18 pouces de haut sur 9 pouces de large. 750' (these measurements are the equivalent of 18 in. high and 9 in. wide and correspond to the dimensions of these wall-lights).
The wall-lights were then possibly sold in the Revolutionary Sales of 1793-4 at the château de Versailles and are subsequently described in a catalogue published in Haarlem in 1794 along with thirty-seven other pieces of furniture and bronzes d’ameublement included in these Revolutionary sales (see Davillier, op. cit., no. 17).
The Cabinet de Garde-Robe was where the king conducted much of his daily business - it adjoined the king’s bedchamber, and looked out onto the Cour des Cerfs. Its furnishings included a fireplace of rouge griotte marble, and a commodes à portes by Weisweiler, also delivered by Daguerre, recently returned to Versailles, having latterly been in the collection of the Earls of Rosebery.
A pair of wall-lights of exactly this model (lacking the chains described in the first order of 1788 from the Garde-Meuble, but with holes indicating they originally had chains), previously in the collection of Sidney Lamon (sold Christie’s, London, 29 November 1973, lot 67), was acquired by Versailles in 1979 and installed in the Cabinet de Garde Robe (sold Sotheby’s, Parke-Bernet, 20 October 1979, lot 29).
Since 1979 five other pairs of this model have appeared at auction:
- The Keck Collection, Bel Air, Los Angeles; sold Sotheby’s, New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 14.
- Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 10 June 1993, lot 10.
- Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, Monaco, 9 December 1995, lot 232, lacking chains and holes.
- Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 25 May 2000, lot 363 ($380,000 exc. Premium).
- The present pair.
Of these pairs, only the pair sold at Sotheby’s, Monaco in 1995 lacked any fixing holes for chains, so in the absence of inventory numbers on any of the pairs cited, conceivably any of the other four pairs could in fact be those delivered by Daguerre in 1788.
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THE MODEL
Although no bronzier is mentioned in Daguerre’s bills for the delivery of these wall-lights, the model can be attributed to Louis-Gabriel Feloix on the basis of close similarities to other works by him. The intricately cast ribbon to the back plate and the cornucopiae-form arms with fruiting nozzles both feature on a set of four wall-lights delivered by Feloix, after a model by Quentin-Claude Pitoin, in 1781 to Marie Antoinette for her Cabinet Intérieur at Versailles. These wall-lights subsequently appeared at auction (The Alexander Collection, Christie’s, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 15, $1,817,500) where they were acquired by the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
LOUIS-GABRIEL FELOIX
Louis-Gabriel Feloix (1729-1812), the son of an engraver of the Paris Mint, had been received fondeur in 1754. Established in the rue des Boucheries and later the rue de Berri, he collaborated with the most important fondeurs and ciseleurs of the time, such as the Pitoin family and Godille, as well as with the marchands-merciers Darnault, Poirier and later Daguerre. In his stock inventory of 1789, a 'bras tierse (thyrsus) et corne d'abondance: 400 livres' was listed, which could well have been a simplified version of the wall-lights offered here.
.