A pair of French parcel-gilt bronze five-light candelabra

DESIGNED AND CAST BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, FOR THE 1867 EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE, PARIS

Details

A pair of French parcel-gilt bronze five-light candelabra
Designed and cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne, For the 1867 Exposition Universelle, Paris
Each surmounted by a heron on bead-draped spreading foot, above five shaped branches each supporting a fluted nozzle with gilt sconce, above a fluted tapering column cast to the foot with fir cones and foliage and supported on a classical female bust, on triple chimera monopodiae cast between with anthemia, the branches and column supporting five gilt chains
38 in. (96.5 cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

Both designed and cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne, the model for the present pair of candelabra, actually named Candelabre, was exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle. The quality of Barbedienne's exhibits prompted reporters for the Art Journal to write: "The works exhibited by Barbedienne are of the highest order of Art-manufacture. His productions in Bronze compete with and rival those of the latest manufacturers in what are termed "precious metals"; he has, indeed, so elevated the art he professes as to give it rank with that of the goldsmith" (Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal Exhibition published with the Art Journal, p. 172).

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