Lot Essay
These appliques are of the same model commissioned on March 10, 1787 from Feloix by Jean Haure. The first three pairs were delivered on June 18, 1787 for the apartments of Louis XV's sister, Madame Adélaïde at the Château de Versailles. A fourth pair, gilt ultimately by Harasse for 600 livres, was also placed in these apartments.
In the inventory of the Château de Versailles of 1788 they are described as follows:
trois paires de bras à trois branches chacqune genre arabesque, branches à rinceaux et tête d'aigle à revers portant les bassins et tenant dans leur bec des guirlandes de perles mobiles; celles extérieures portant une guirlande de fruits et fleurs, la tige ornée de trophées, tête de midas et graine surmonté de vase à cannelure torse terminé par un bouquet de fleures: le tout doré d'or moulu 27 pouces de haut sur 17 pouces de longe (01 3463 fol 580)
Two further pairs of this model were commissioned from Feloix in the same year for the apartments of Marie-Antoinette at the Château de Saint-Cloud:
deux pairs de bras à trois branches, chacque partie composé d'une tête de satyre au dessous de laquelle est une chûte de branches de lierre enlassées avec attributs de musique terminés par deux petits glands, surmontée d'un vase à ornements avec mufles de lion terminé par une corne d'abondance, tyrse de laurier et pomme de pin, les branches à canneleurs avec enroulements arabesques et guirlandes de fruits, tête d'aigle portant les bassins ronds cizeles avec bobêches ornée de chaines à perles tenues par les aigles et mufles de lion de 34 po de haut et 15 po de face le tout de bronze doré" (01 3428 fol 154).
These descriptions, with their notable differences, allow us to firmly attribute the offered lot to Louis-Gabriel Feloix. The most well-known example of this model is in the Wallace Collection, London and is illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, Catalogue, 1956, pl. 115, no. F374. A nearly identical pair to this lot was sold from the Russian State Collections, Rudolf Lepke, Berlin, 6 November 1929, lots 135 and 136, while other versions have been sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 5 November 1954, lot 51; Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 37 and Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 5. This model was also copied by the marchand Alfred Beurdeley in the late 19th century (sold Paris, 27 May 1895, no. 469).
LOUIS GABRIEL FELOIX
Born in 1729, the son of a die engraver, Feloix earned his maîtrise as a doreur-ciseleur on November 26, 1754. In 1756, he married the daughter of a master locksmith, and bought the foundry of his friend Louis Paffe in 1771. Working from his premises in the rue des Boucheries, Saint Germain, Feloix worked with the fondeurs-ciseleurs, Quentin-Claude Pitoin and Godille. Prior to the death of his first wife in 1775, he worked for the dealers Darnault and Poirier-Daguerre. After his second marriage, in 1788 he furnished more than 10,000 livres worth of bronzes to the Duc d'Orléans. The French Revolution dealt Feloix a fatal blow, and he died, impoverished, on August 15, 1812.
In the inventory of the Château de Versailles of 1788 they are described as follows:
trois paires de bras à trois branches chacqune genre arabesque, branches à rinceaux et tête d'aigle à revers portant les bassins et tenant dans leur bec des guirlandes de perles mobiles; celles extérieures portant une guirlande de fruits et fleurs, la tige ornée de trophées, tête de midas et graine surmonté de vase à cannelure torse terminé par un bouquet de fleures: le tout doré d'or moulu 27 pouces de haut sur 17 pouces de longe (01 3463 fol 580)
Two further pairs of this model were commissioned from Feloix in the same year for the apartments of Marie-Antoinette at the Château de Saint-Cloud:
deux pairs de bras à trois branches, chacque partie composé d'une tête de satyre au dessous de laquelle est une chûte de branches de lierre enlassées avec attributs de musique terminés par deux petits glands, surmontée d'un vase à ornements avec mufles de lion terminé par une corne d'abondance, tyrse de laurier et pomme de pin, les branches à canneleurs avec enroulements arabesques et guirlandes de fruits, tête d'aigle portant les bassins ronds cizeles avec bobêches ornée de chaines à perles tenues par les aigles et mufles de lion de 34 po de haut et 15 po de face le tout de bronze doré" (01 3428 fol 154).
These descriptions, with their notable differences, allow us to firmly attribute the offered lot to Louis-Gabriel Feloix. The most well-known example of this model is in the Wallace Collection, London and is illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, Catalogue, 1956, pl. 115, no. F374. A nearly identical pair to this lot was sold from the Russian State Collections, Rudolf Lepke, Berlin, 6 November 1929, lots 135 and 136, while other versions have been sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 5 November 1954, lot 51; Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 37 and Sotheby's Monaco, 3 May 1977, lot 5. This model was also copied by the marchand Alfred Beurdeley in the late 19th century (sold Paris, 27 May 1895, no. 469).
LOUIS GABRIEL FELOIX
Born in 1729, the son of a die engraver, Feloix earned his maîtrise as a doreur-ciseleur on November 26, 1754. In 1756, he married the daughter of a master locksmith, and bought the foundry of his friend Louis Paffe in 1771. Working from his premises in the rue des Boucheries, Saint Germain, Feloix worked with the fondeurs-ciseleurs, Quentin-Claude Pitoin and Godille. Prior to the death of his first wife in 1775, he worked for the dealers Darnault and Poirier-Daguerre. After his second marriage, in 1788 he furnished more than 10,000 livres worth of bronzes to the Duc d'Orléans. The French Revolution dealt Feloix a fatal blow, and he died, impoverished, on August 15, 1812.