Lot Essay
Almina, Countess of Carnarvon (wife of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon d.1923) inherited a large part of the collections of Alfred de Rothschild (d.1918) at 1 Seamore Place, W1 and Halton, Buckinghamshire. Part of the collection was sold by Lady Carnarvon at Christie's on 19-21 May 1925 but many of the more important pieces were not included in that sale. Most appear to have been sold privately some years before to Duveen, who sold a number of porcelain-mounted pieces to Henry E. Huntington (now in the Huntington Library) and Mrs A. Hamilton Rice (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). The Carnarvon atheniènne most probably came into the Dodge Collection through Duveen. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon also inherited through his mother, the sister of the 7th Earl of Chesterfield, the contents of Bretby Park, Derbyshire, which included some of French works or art collected by the 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773).
The Antique tripod was the inspiration for a series of candelabra from the 1780's, always of the very highest quality, all following the same essential form but incorporating a wide range of decorative motifs. They can be divided into four basic groups - those with satyr mask monopodia with either sphinxes, griffins or goats at the base, and a plainer variant with eagles' mask monopodia and paw feet (P. Verlet, Les Bronze Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, pp.316-318, figs. 349-350 and 371-372).
The marchand mercier Dominique Daguerre supplied a pair of the third model in 1786 for the Salon des Nobles de la Reine at Versailles at a cost of 2612 livres and probably through Hauré a pair of the first model in 1788 for Marie Antoinette's Grand Cabinet de la Reine at Saint-Cloud. Verlet suggests that Daguerre held the rights to this model and that he orchestrated the variations, commissioning different bronziers, fondeurs and ciseleurs to create new versions of the original model. Daguerre almost certainly supplied the set of eight of the eagles' mask model that were in the Great Drawing Room at Carlton House (The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue, Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991-1992, p.75, no. 26). Those at Pavlovsk were presumably acquired by Grand Duke Paul and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna on their visit to Daguerre in May 1784 and the pair, of the same model, in the Royal Palace Stockholm were most probably acquired by Gustave III through Daguerre on his visit to France in the same year.
Although in the past these tripod candelabra have often been associated witwith Guthière (who also supplied Daguerre), in fact François Rémond (Maître-ciseleur-fondeur 1774) was the principal supplier responsible for the majority of the versions for Daguerre. Rémond supplied a pair of the sphinx model candelabra with blue porcelain bodies to the comte de Vandreuil and another pair in 1783, possibly those now in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Catalogue, London, 1958, F130). Rémond supplied not only gilt-bronze objects to Daguerre, but also mounts for furniture and clocks (P. Verlet, op. cit., figs. 357-8), although in some cases he may only have acted as doreur of other craftsman's work.
Of the tripod candelabra emanating from Daguerre and most probably executed by Rémond the closest parallel to the Dodge athénienne is a variant of the griffin model with almost identical satyr masks which has a brüle parfum hung from chains between the tripod - there are examples in the Musée Nissim de Camondo (Catalogue, no.247) in the Louvre, the Elysée and elsewhere. The circular bands joining the legs of the candelabra and this athénienne appear elsewhere in Rémond's oeuvre - for example on the set of four candelabra made for the second cabinet turc of the comte d'Artois at Versailles , now in the Royal Collection (J.-J. Gautier, 'Le Goût du Prince, Boudoirs et Cabinets Interieurs', La Folie d'Artois, Paris, n.d., p.93, fig. 9)
On the Dodge athénienne this band is mounted with bearded masks that are very similar to those on the friezes of some of Daguerre's clocks for which Rémond probably supplied the gilt-bronzes (P.Verlet, op.cit., figs. 357 and 358). A gueridon at Pavlovsk which has almost identical legs may be another of the Grand Duchess's extensive purchases from Daguerre (Pavlovsk: Palace and Park, Aurora edition, 1976, p.93).
The tripod form was eminently adaptable and was used by many bronziers both on a larger and smaller scale as the stands for tazze and vessels of precious materials including lacquer and rare stones, many of these again obviously emanating from Daguerre. Pierre-Philippe Thomire, who had trained with Guthière, used very similar monopodia supports for the two jardinières one of which is in the Royal Collection and one is in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Although there is so far no known link between Thomire and Daguerre, who nonetheless must have been aware of his work, Thomire worked for Daguerre's successor Lignereux.
The Antique tripod was the inspiration for a series of candelabra from the 1780's, always of the very highest quality, all following the same essential form but incorporating a wide range of decorative motifs. They can be divided into four basic groups - those with satyr mask monopodia with either sphinxes, griffins or goats at the base, and a plainer variant with eagles' mask monopodia and paw feet (P. Verlet, Les Bronze Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, pp.316-318, figs. 349-350 and 371-372).
The marchand mercier Dominique Daguerre supplied a pair of the third model in 1786 for the Salon des Nobles de la Reine at Versailles at a cost of 2612 livres and probably through Hauré a pair of the first model in 1788 for Marie Antoinette's Grand Cabinet de la Reine at Saint-Cloud. Verlet suggests that Daguerre held the rights to this model and that he orchestrated the variations, commissioning different bronziers, fondeurs and ciseleurs to create new versions of the original model. Daguerre almost certainly supplied the set of eight of the eagles' mask model that were in the Great Drawing Room at Carlton House (The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue, Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991-1992, p.75, no. 26). Those at Pavlovsk were presumably acquired by Grand Duke Paul and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna on their visit to Daguerre in May 1784 and the pair, of the same model, in the Royal Palace Stockholm were most probably acquired by Gustave III through Daguerre on his visit to France in the same year.
Although in the past these tripod candelabra have often been associated witwith Guthière (who also supplied Daguerre), in fact François Rémond (Maître-ciseleur-fondeur 1774) was the principal supplier responsible for the majority of the versions for Daguerre. Rémond supplied a pair of the sphinx model candelabra with blue porcelain bodies to the comte de Vandreuil and another pair in 1783, possibly those now in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Catalogue, London, 1958, F130). Rémond supplied not only gilt-bronze objects to Daguerre, but also mounts for furniture and clocks (P. Verlet, op. cit., figs. 357-8), although in some cases he may only have acted as doreur of other craftsman's work.
Of the tripod candelabra emanating from Daguerre and most probably executed by Rémond the closest parallel to the Dodge athénienne is a variant of the griffin model with almost identical satyr masks which has a brüle parfum hung from chains between the tripod - there are examples in the Musée Nissim de Camondo (Catalogue, no.247) in the Louvre, the Elysée and elsewhere. The circular bands joining the legs of the candelabra and this athénienne appear elsewhere in Rémond's oeuvre - for example on the set of four candelabra made for the second cabinet turc of the comte d'Artois at Versailles , now in the Royal Collection (J.-J. Gautier, 'Le Goût du Prince, Boudoirs et Cabinets Interieurs', La Folie d'Artois, Paris, n.d., p.93, fig. 9)
On the Dodge athénienne this band is mounted with bearded masks that are very similar to those on the friezes of some of Daguerre's clocks for which Rémond probably supplied the gilt-bronzes (P.Verlet, op.cit., figs. 357 and 358). A gueridon at Pavlovsk which has almost identical legs may be another of the Grand Duchess's extensive purchases from Daguerre (Pavlovsk: Palace and Park, Aurora edition, 1976, p.93).
The tripod form was eminently adaptable and was used by many bronziers both on a larger and smaller scale as the stands for tazze and vessels of precious materials including lacquer and rare stones, many of these again obviously emanating from Daguerre. Pierre-Philippe Thomire, who had trained with Guthière, used very similar monopodia supports for the two jardinières one of which is in the Royal Collection and one is in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Although there is so far no known link between Thomire and Daguerre, who nonetheless must have been aware of his work, Thomire worked for Daguerre's successor Lignereux.