Lot Essay
An identical pair of wall lights in the Cabinet de garde-robe of Louis XVI at Versailles are discussed in Cinq années d'enrichissement du Patrimoine national 1975 - 1980, Grand Palais, 1980 - 1981, no. 105).
The history of this model was first revealed by Pierre Verlet in 'Objets prestigieux retrouvés', Revue de l'Art, No. 34 (1976), pp. 67-68 following the sale of a pair of wall lights of this model from the Collection of Sidney J. Lamon in these Rooms, 29 November 1973, lot 67, subsequently resold, Sotheby's New York, 20 October 1979, lot 29, and purchased at that sale for Versailles. Verlet listed five separate documents that detail the order, delivery and eventual sale of a pair destined for Versailles as part of the re-decoration of the Cabinet de garde-robe of Louis XVI. This was the last room to be re-decorated for the King before the Revolution. The boiseries were by the son of Antoine Rousseau. Among the furniture was the celebrated set of seat-furniture known as the Mobilier des Dieux, of which two fauteuils and four chaises are at Versailles. The first mention of the pair of wall lights is
No 6 - Du 3 novembre 1788. Pour le Cabinet du Roy à Versailles. Daguerre ... 1 paire de bras de cheminée à 2 branches arabesques ornées de tourterelles et chaine dorés or mat.
The initial intention of using tourterelles (turtle-doves), as on the wall lights delivered by Feuchère and Hauré for Saint-Cloud, appears to have been changed and at the time of delivery the wall lights were described:
27 Novembre 1788. Envoi de Paris à Versailles. Pour le service du Roy. Cabinet ... Une paire de bras à 2 branches terminée par le haut d'un aigle doré au mat.
A very short time elapsed between the original order and delivery which would indicate that Daguerre already held the wall lights in stock. Daguerre's mémoire is as follows:
Daguerre et Compie, rue Saint-Honoré à Paris ... Service du Roi à Versailles. Pour le Cabinet du Roy. 3 novembre 1788. No.6 ... Une paire de bras à 2 branches terminées par un aigle, le tout en bronze très bien ciselé et Doré au mat 672 livres.
The wall lights are listed in the 1792 Versailles inventory with the following description:
Appartement du Roi ... Cabinet de garde robe. Passage par l'alcove ... 6. - Une paire de bras à deux branches dorée au mate, nouée par un noeud de ruban, sur une gaine en forme de caducé, ornée de branches de laurier, surmontée d'un aigle éployé tenant des foudres dans ses griffes, portant 18 pouces de haut sur 9 po. de large. 750 livres.
In 1794, at the time of the Revolutionary sales, they were included in a sale of meubles précieux provenant du dernier Roi de France, in Haarlem, Holland, as lot 17, but with no estimate and the following description:
17.-Deux bras à deux branches, mêmes métal et dorures, ciselure fine et légère, représentant un carquois surmonté d'un aigle, la foudre dans ses pieds, avec de petites chaines.
(Baron Davillier, La Vente du Mobilier du château de Versailles pendant la Terreur, Paris, 1877, p. 8).
It would seem likely, as noted above, that this was either an existing Daguerre model, or certainly that he already had the elements in stock. The model may therefore not have been designed specifically for Louis XVI although one might expect that he would have been the first to receive it. Another pair was sold from the Keck Collection, Sotheby's New York, 4 December 1991, lot 14. In the absence of any evidence of inventory numbers, and on the basis that each pair fits the descriptions listed, any one of them could be the pair originally at Versailles
The history of this model was first revealed by Pierre Verlet in 'Objets prestigieux retrouvés', Revue de l'Art, No. 34 (1976), pp. 67-68 following the sale of a pair of wall lights of this model from the Collection of Sidney J. Lamon in these Rooms, 29 November 1973, lot 67, subsequently resold, Sotheby's New York, 20 October 1979, lot 29, and purchased at that sale for Versailles. Verlet listed five separate documents that detail the order, delivery and eventual sale of a pair destined for Versailles as part of the re-decoration of the Cabinet de garde-robe of Louis XVI. This was the last room to be re-decorated for the King before the Revolution. The boiseries were by the son of Antoine Rousseau. Among the furniture was the celebrated set of seat-furniture known as the Mobilier des Dieux, of which two fauteuils and four chaises are at Versailles. The first mention of the pair of wall lights is
No 6 - Du 3 novembre 1788. Pour le Cabinet du Roy à Versailles. Daguerre ... 1 paire de bras de cheminée à 2 branches arabesques ornées de tourterelles et chaine dorés or mat.
The initial intention of using tourterelles (turtle-doves), as on the wall lights delivered by Feuchère and Hauré for Saint-Cloud, appears to have been changed and at the time of delivery the wall lights were described:
27 Novembre 1788. Envoi de Paris à Versailles. Pour le service du Roy. Cabinet ... Une paire de bras à 2 branches terminée par le haut d'un aigle doré au mat.
A very short time elapsed between the original order and delivery which would indicate that Daguerre already held the wall lights in stock. Daguerre's mémoire is as follows:
Daguerre et Compie, rue Saint-Honoré à Paris ... Service du Roi à Versailles. Pour le Cabinet du Roy. 3 novembre 1788. No.6 ... Une paire de bras à 2 branches terminées par un aigle, le tout en bronze très bien ciselé et Doré au mat 672 livres.
The wall lights are listed in the 1792 Versailles inventory with the following description:
Appartement du Roi ... Cabinet de garde robe. Passage par l'alcove ... 6. - Une paire de bras à deux branches dorée au mate, nouée par un noeud de ruban, sur une gaine en forme de caducé, ornée de branches de laurier, surmontée d'un aigle éployé tenant des foudres dans ses griffes, portant 18 pouces de haut sur 9 po. de large. 750 livres.
In 1794, at the time of the Revolutionary sales, they were included in a sale of meubles précieux provenant du dernier Roi de France, in Haarlem, Holland, as lot 17, but with no estimate and the following description:
17.-Deux bras à deux branches, mêmes métal et dorures, ciselure fine et légère, représentant un carquois surmonté d'un aigle, la foudre dans ses pieds, avec de petites chaines.
(Baron Davillier, La Vente du Mobilier du château de Versailles pendant la Terreur, Paris, 1877, p. 8).
It would seem likely, as noted above, that this was either an existing Daguerre model, or certainly that he already had the elements in stock. The model may therefore not have been designed specifically for Louis XVI although one might expect that he would have been the first to receive it. Another pair was sold from the Keck Collection, Sotheby's New York, 4 December 1991, lot 14. In the absence of any evidence of inventory numbers, and on the basis that each pair fits the descriptions listed, any one of them could be the pair originally at Versailles