A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND BRONZE TWIN-BRANCH CANDELABRA

ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE

Details
A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND BRONZE TWIN-BRANCH CANDELABRA
Attributed to Claude Galle
Each with a kneeling Egyptian female figure wearing a Nemes head-dress, supporting on her head a dish and a cylindrical shaft terminating in a chevron-pattern and issuing two scrolling foliate-decorated branches with chevron and facetted nozzles, on a rectangular spreading base with hieroglyphs, probably lacking finial, drilled for electricity
15¾ in. (40 cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

Claude Galle, of the rue du Four Saint-Germain, was elected maître in 1786.

This celebrated 'Egyptian' model enjoyed enduring popularity during the Empire period, as a result of Napoléon's campaigns in Egypt and the subsequent publication of Baron Vivant-Denon's Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, 1802.

A pair of related Egyptian candelabra, forming part of a garniture and attributed to Claude Galle, bronzier au Garde-Meuble, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 338, fig. 5.3.6. A further nearly identical pair is illustrated in 'Egyptomania', Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 1994, p. 290, fig. 4 and in P.-M. Favelac, Aujourd'hui s'installer en Directoire, Empire, Paris, p. 46.

A closely related pair, with porphyry bases, was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 12 June 1997, lot 75 while another pair, lacking their bases, was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 27 May 1993, lot 30. A further pair is illustrated in Le Dix-neuvième Siècle Français, 1957, p.132, fig.1.

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