Lot 126
126
A LARGE PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIFTEEN-LIGHT CANDELABRA*
A LARGE PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIFTEEN-LIGHT CANDELABRA*

CIRCA 1810

Details
A LARGE PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIFTEEN-LIGHT CANDELABRA*
Circa 1810
Each cast as a winged figure of Nike standing on a globe upholding a fruit basket issuing foliate-cast scrolled trumpet two-tier candlearms centering a lotus finial, on a square plinth cast with a berried-husk wreath, on husk-cast square base.
64in. (164cm.) high, 22in. (57cm.) diameter (2)

Lot Essay

These impressive candelabra with winged figures of Victory derive from a design for similar candelabra by the architect Charles Percier as part of a commission to furnish Empress Josephine's bedroom at the chteau de Saint-Cloud (illustrated in M.L. Myers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1991, pp. 157-160, cat. 98). The model is particularly associated with the work of Pierre-Philippe Thomire, the most famous bronzier of the Empire period, and examples by him are in the Metropolitan Museum and illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Prschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 328, fig. 5.2.2.