Lot Essay
Pierre-Philippe Thomire, maître fondeur in 1772.
This centrepiece was almost certainly conceived to form part of a surtout de table, standing on a mirrored plateau with further decorative items. The basket of the piece was intended for an arrangement of flowers and could possibly be fitted with a separate ring with candle-branches. One such surtout de table, with maidens standing on nearly identical bases with putti supporting floral garlands, is in the musée Marmottan, Paris (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 382, fig. 5.16.2).
This centrepiece was almost certainly conceived to form part of a surtout de table, standing on a mirrored plateau with further decorative items. The basket of the piece was intended for an arrangement of flowers and could possibly be fitted with a separate ring with candle-branches. One such surtout de table, with maidens standing on nearly identical bases with putti supporting floral garlands, is in the musée Marmottan, Paris (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 382, fig. 5.16.2).