A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND PORCELAIN THREE BRANCH CANDELABRA

THE MEISSEN PORCELAIN CIRCA 1765

Details

A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND PORCELAIN THREE BRANCH CANDELABRA
The Meissen porcelain circa 1765
The polychrome porcelain groups with female figures emblematic of the senses Touch and Taste, Touch standing before two fighting putti and a snarling dog, a lobster nipping a hand at the front of the base, Taste standing by a pedestal with a monkey eating fruit from a basket, a putto eating from a bowl below, each on rocaille scroll-moulded bases enriched with gilding, the rectangular moulded stepped base with berried leaves and issuing three scrolled and channelled foliate branches, gadrooned drip pans and channelled nozzles, both groups with damages and partial regilding, Touch with restorations and with blue crossed swords and dot mark, the ormolu base originally with additional feet, drilled for electricity
18 in. (45.5 cm.) high; 13¾ in. (35 cm.) wide (2)

Lot Essay

Tactus, the Sense of Touch or Attouchement symbolised by a Cleopatra-like figure (now lacking a crayfish), accompanied by a 'faithful' hound and struggling putti; while the plinth 'label' depicts a hand-biting crayfish and recalls the 'Tactus' engraving by Gottfried Bernhard Goz (d. 1774). The latter portrays a pastoral scene with lovers, assembled by a Venus herm, watching as a crayfish bites Harlequin of the Italian Comedy (Dr. P. Jessen Rococo Engravings, London, 1922, fig. 116).

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