A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHENETS attributed to Jacques Caffiéri, with a Persian cat and a poodle on tasselled cushions, lambrequin friezes and fluted tapering legs with turned feet, now adapted to a fender with an additional balustraded centre section, sides and lambrequin frieze, the late 18th Century central section stamped DUND

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHENETS attributed to Jacques Caffiéri, with a Persian cat and a poodle on tasselled cushions, lambrequin friezes and fluted tapering legs with turned feet, now adapted to a fender with an additional balustraded centre section, sides and lambrequin frieze, the late 18th Century central section stamped DUND
54in. (137cm.) wide (2)

Lot Essay

A chenet of this model mounted with a Persian cat and attributed to Jacques Caffiéri is in the Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung, Munich and illustrated H. Ottomeyer P Pröschel et al. Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 201, fig. 3.14.10. It was previously thought to be the only existing example with this form of base. Chenets with a cat and poodle are mentioned in Jacques Caffiéri's workshop inventory in 1755. His son Philippe Caffiéri delivered a pair of chenets of this model but with different bases to the prince de Condé in 1773 for 1120 livres, and he also had models for Un feu à chien et à chat in stock.

Chenets of this form but with different bases have been sold at auction on numerous occasions. A pair sold from the collection of the marquis de Biron, Paris, June 1914, lot 345, is illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, p. 357, pl. 223. A pair from the Collection M. V. was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 21 February 1988, lot 800

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