These candelabra were designed in the early 19th Century in the 'antique' or 'Egyptian' manner with the central figure as the wreath-bearing priestess of 'Isis'. Candelabra of this pattern, but lacking the kneeling figures and starred frieze, were commissioned in 1807 for the Empress Josephine's apartments at the Château de Fontainebleau and supplied by Claude Galle, maître in 1786 (see J.-P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris 1989, p. 157).
A pair of candelabra of this pattern were sold anonymously, Sotheby's New York, 1 December 1991, lot 20; a further pair, after the Fontainebleau model, but with related sphere-footed plinths was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 26 October 1994, lot 23.