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Lot Essay
These impressive candelabra were most certainly executed by the celebrated bronzier François Rémond (1747-1812) circa 1800, on the basis of a design executed by him circa 1785, now in a French private collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, Vol. III, London, 1996, p. 1284).
A fashionable model by Rémond
A virtually identical pair of candelabra was recorded in the collection of the 4th Marquess of Hertford by 1867, when lent to the Petit Trianon, and is now in the Wallace Collection (Ibid). Peter Hughes dates the latter pair to circa 1800, emphasizing that the production of the model executed by Rémond c.1785 continued for a further twenty years due to its enduring popularity. Whilst the earlier Louis XVI models executed by Rémond feature pearl garlands to the bobèches, the palm leaf-wrapped candle-holders - such as those featured here - first appear on models introduced by Rémond circa 1800 (C. Baulez, Versailles, deux siècles d'histoire de l'art, Paris, 2002, p. 415).
A pair of candelabra of the same model, albeit with four candle-branches, `une paire de girandoles, dites à candélabres, représentant une figure de femme en bronze couleur antique posée à coté d'un candélabre portant 4 lumières', is recorded to have been delivered in 1798 by the marchand Xavier Labenski to Tsar Paul I (1754-1801), son of Catherine the Great and Peter III. It is that same year that the Emperor lifted a ban on all imports from France, in order to allow a special order of ormolu works of art to be imported into Russia to furnish his palaces (I. Zeck, ‘Bronzes d'Ameublement et Meubles Français Achetés par Paul Ier pour le Château Saint-Michel de Saint-Petersbourg 1798-1799,' Bulletin de La Societé de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1994, pp. 141-157.)
Apart from the above-mentioned two examples, only three pairs of candelabra of this model are recorded. These candelabra - fitted with either four or six candle-branches - include a pair with garlanded nozzles and green marble bases in the Niarchos Collection (reproduced in Connaissance des Arts, November 1960); a pair of candelabra with palm leaf-wrapped nozzles and rosso antico marble bases, sold from the E.W. Beckett Collection, Christie's, London, 8 May 1912, lot 102; and another featuring garlanded nozzles and rouge griotte marble bases, sold Paris 10-11 April 1891, lot 165 and again Sotheby’s, Paris, 28 April 2009, lot 113 (EUR144,750 with premium).
A close collaboration between Rémond and Boizot
François Rémond was considered one of the foremost ‘doreurs sur métaux' of the Louis XVI period. Son of a voiturier parisien, he was apprenticed to the maître-doreur Pierre-Antoine Vial in 1763, obtaining his lettres de maîtrise in 1774. Rémond succeeded in attracting prestigious (and demanding) clients including Marie-Antoinette (through Jean-Henri Riesener), Princess Kinsky (whose commissions for the Hôtel Kinsky in Paris are discussed by C. Baulez in 'Le Luminaire de la Princesse Kinsky', L'Objet d'Art, May 1991, pp. 84-99), the duc de Penthièvre and the comte d'Artois to whom he supplied a garniture for his Boudoir turc, including the famous ostrich candelabra now at Versailles (inv. V4776-V4777). The discovery of Rémond’s Livre-Journal in 1983 allowed the reattribution to him of a number of chefs-d’oeuvre, including works traditionally credited to Pierre Gouthière. The Journal also reveals Rémond’s commercial transactions with ébénistes like Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen, and the marchands-merciers, in particular the celebrated Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796), principal supplier of objets de luxe to Marie Antoinette and the Court. Rémond collaborated extensively with Daguerre, supplying work between 1778 and 1792 valued at the staggering sum of 920,000 livres.
Rémond is recorded to have worked with the sculptors Foucou, Budelot and Roguier; it is however the name of Boizot that appears most frequently. The collaboration between Boizot and Rémond is best illustrated by the recreation of models created at Sèvres and executed by Rémond for Daguerre. There are a number of gilt-bronze objets d’art and clocks made by Rémond after models attributed to Boizot and the classically-draped female figures featured on the present candelabra are a perfect illustration of this close collaboration.
A fashionable model by Rémond
A virtually identical pair of candelabra was recorded in the collection of the 4th Marquess of Hertford by 1867, when lent to the Petit Trianon, and is now in the Wallace Collection (Ibid). Peter Hughes dates the latter pair to circa 1800, emphasizing that the production of the model executed by Rémond c.1785 continued for a further twenty years due to its enduring popularity. Whilst the earlier Louis XVI models executed by Rémond feature pearl garlands to the bobèches, the palm leaf-wrapped candle-holders - such as those featured here - first appear on models introduced by Rémond circa 1800 (C. Baulez, Versailles, deux siècles d'histoire de l'art, Paris, 2002, p. 415).
A pair of candelabra of the same model, albeit with four candle-branches, `une paire de girandoles, dites à candélabres, représentant une figure de femme en bronze couleur antique posée à coté d'un candélabre portant 4 lumières', is recorded to have been delivered in 1798 by the marchand Xavier Labenski to Tsar Paul I (1754-1801), son of Catherine the Great and Peter III. It is that same year that the Emperor lifted a ban on all imports from France, in order to allow a special order of ormolu works of art to be imported into Russia to furnish his palaces (I. Zeck, ‘Bronzes d'Ameublement et Meubles Français Achetés par Paul Ier pour le Château Saint-Michel de Saint-Petersbourg 1798-1799,' Bulletin de La Societé de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1994, pp. 141-157.)
Apart from the above-mentioned two examples, only three pairs of candelabra of this model are recorded. These candelabra - fitted with either four or six candle-branches - include a pair with garlanded nozzles and green marble bases in the Niarchos Collection (reproduced in Connaissance des Arts, November 1960); a pair of candelabra with palm leaf-wrapped nozzles and rosso antico marble bases, sold from the E.W. Beckett Collection, Christie's, London, 8 May 1912, lot 102; and another featuring garlanded nozzles and rouge griotte marble bases, sold Paris 10-11 April 1891, lot 165 and again Sotheby’s, Paris, 28 April 2009, lot 113 (EUR144,750 with premium).
A close collaboration between Rémond and Boizot
François Rémond was considered one of the foremost ‘doreurs sur métaux' of the Louis XVI period. Son of a voiturier parisien, he was apprenticed to the maître-doreur Pierre-Antoine Vial in 1763, obtaining his lettres de maîtrise in 1774. Rémond succeeded in attracting prestigious (and demanding) clients including Marie-Antoinette (through Jean-Henri Riesener), Princess Kinsky (whose commissions for the Hôtel Kinsky in Paris are discussed by C. Baulez in 'Le Luminaire de la Princesse Kinsky', L'Objet d'Art, May 1991, pp. 84-99), the duc de Penthièvre and the comte d'Artois to whom he supplied a garniture for his Boudoir turc, including the famous ostrich candelabra now at Versailles (inv. V4776-V4777). The discovery of Rémond’s Livre-Journal in 1983 allowed the reattribution to him of a number of chefs-d’oeuvre, including works traditionally credited to Pierre Gouthière. The Journal also reveals Rémond’s commercial transactions with ébénistes like Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen, and the marchands-merciers, in particular the celebrated Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796), principal supplier of objets de luxe to Marie Antoinette and the Court. Rémond collaborated extensively with Daguerre, supplying work between 1778 and 1792 valued at the staggering sum of 920,000 livres.
Rémond is recorded to have worked with the sculptors Foucou, Budelot and Roguier; it is however the name of Boizot that appears most frequently. The collaboration between Boizot and Rémond is best illustrated by the recreation of models created at Sèvres and executed by Rémond for Daguerre. There are a number of gilt-bronze objets d’art and clocks made by Rémond after models attributed to Boizot and the classically-draped female figures featured on the present candelabra are a perfect illustration of this close collaboration.