MARK OF HENRY AUGUSTE, PARIS, 1789, AFTER A DESIGN BY JEAN-GUILLAUME MOITTE

HENRY AUGUSTE (1759-1816)

The son of distinguished goldsmith and bronzier-ciseleur Robert-Joseph Auguste, Henry Auguste entered his mark in 1785 to take over the family workshop although he was already very much involved in the business having signed in 1784 the register for the King's furnishings which sealed his status as the royal goldsmith to Louis XVI. Auguste enjoyed a prosperous career, titling himself as Auguste Fils Orfèvre du Roi, which continued after the revolution despite his royal association. Following the establishment of the Empire, Auguste carried out numerous commissions for the City of Paris including the Grand Vermeil service presented to Emperor Napoleon, much of which is now in the Musée National des Châteaux Malmaison. Auguste was awarded a Gold Medal at the 1802 Industrial Exhibition, He created the gold crown for Napoleon’s coronation as Emperor in 1804 in collaboration with jeweler Aubert. Auguste’s fortunes changed shortly after this. By 1806 he had amassed debts exceeding 1.3 million francs. Although his creditors allowed him eight years to reorder his affairs, he was caught in Dieppe in 1809 attempting to sail to England under a false name with his stock and valuables. Auguste was declared fraudulently bankrupt and sentenced to six years in jail. He died in Port-au-Prince in September 1816.

THE MODEL

Henry Auguste's style was influenced by the recent discoveries in Herculaneum and he borrowed extensively from antiquity for inspiration for his snake handles, caduceus, Victories, eagles or lion's and bird claw feet. His compositions are often exuberant and original as demonstrated by these candelabra with the claw feet emerging from the base of the stems. These candelabra are inspired by a model designed by Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810) with variants such as optional chains and the arms terminating in either rosettes or simply loops of the snakes. Moitte trained under the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714-85) and then transferred to the atelier of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1704-78), the favourite sculptor of King Louis XV. Moitte was very much influenced by his time at the Académie in Rome and on his return he is believed to have produced over 1000 drawings for Henry Auguste, many of which were later acquired by the Odiot firm. (J. Lebreton, Notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de Moitte, Paris, 1812, p. 30).

Henry Auguste made several versions of Moitte's design for candelabra, A similar pair made for for Luis Fernández de Córdoba, 13th Duke of Medicaceli and 7th Duke of Camiña (1749-1806), was sold Christie's,10 February 2022, lot 187. Christie's also sold from the Collection of A. Jerrold Perenchio, New York, 14 October 2020, lot 26, a set of six candlesticks of this design. Moitte's design was similarly employed by Auguste for an extraordinary set of twelve candelabra commissioned by Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), second son of King George III of Great Britain and Ireland and brother of George Prince of Wales, later King George IV. Two candelabra from this set are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A slightly more elaborate set of four made for the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, are in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; a pair of gilt examples of the same year, engraved with English arms, was sold Christie's New York, 18 April 1991, lot 80.

THE DUKE OF CADAVAL

Miguel Caetano Álvares Pereira de Melo, 5th Duke of Cadaval, was in 1765. He inherited the title and estates from his father as a minor in 1771. The title had been created by King João IV of Portugal in 1645 for his cousin, Dom Nuno Àlvares Pereira de Melo, Marquis of Ferreira and Count of Teintgal (1638-1727). The Duke married Madeleine de Montmorency-Luxembourg, daughter of the Duke of Luxembourg, in Lisbon in October 1791. She is described by Laure Junot, Duchess of d'Abrantes in her Memoirs of Napoleon, his Court and Family, London, 1832, vol. 4, p. 247, as having 'great charms of person, grace of manners, a cultivated mind and an excellent heart'. She continued '...The Duchess is universally beloved and esteemed in Portugal'. She is less complimentary about the Duke, whom she concedes was young and handsome when the couple married, but was now addicted to gambling, allowing his wife to run all his affairs.