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拍品專文
Designed in the 'goût Grec' style promoted by Jean-François Forty in A l'Usage des Orfèvres et des Fondeurs, circa 1768, these wall-lights relate to a model first recorded in 1776. In the celebrated sale of the collection of Blondel de Gagny, which lasted from 10-24 December 1766, lot 1033 was described as 'Une paire de bras à trois branches de bronze doré, très bien executé, & de la composition de M. Auguste; le corps de chaque bras représente un therme de femme'. The M. Auguste referred to is presumably Robert-Joseph Auguste, maître-orfèvre from 1757-1801.
These wall-lights are almost identical to the set of four in the following lot (lot 37), save for minor variations in casting and chasing, in particular the treatment of the channelled panel at the base, and the presence of nipples and a belly-button on this pair, which are not present on the set of four. Whilst it is not known when these wall-lights were acquired by the Balsan's prior to circa 1930 (when they are published in their collection), it is interesting to note that an apparently identical set of four to the following lot was sold from the aristocratic collection of Ernst, Graf zu Rantzau at Graupe, Berlin, 15 May 1931, lot 231 (illustrated overlay). All the pieces included in the Rantzau sale are thought to have been inherited family heirlooms, which could equally well have entered the family collections in the late 18th or 19th Centuries.
The unusual manner in which these wall-lights are chased and gilded in some parts to the reverse, as well as in part enclosed, together with the presence of screw-holes that would otherwise be redundant if the wall-lights were fixed directly onto the wall, suggests that these wall-lights originally had further elements secured to the reverse. Certainly J.-F. Forty's design of circa 1768 for a chandelier demonstrates how such female therm figures were incorporated into larger compositions.
Further wall-lights in this vein include a pair in the Wrightsman Collection (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection II Furniture Gilt Bronze and Mounted Porcelain Carpets, New York, 1966, no.231); another pair in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; and a final pair sold as part of the Sneyd Heirlooms, Christie's London, 26 June 1924.
MADAME JACQUES BALSAN
The daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont, Consuelo became a celebrated debutante at her parents' Newport residence, Marble House, where in August of 1895 she met Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. She married the Duke that autumn and returned to England to live at Blenheim Palace. She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920. The following summer she married the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan. Settling in France, they divided their time between the splendid 17th century Château de Saint-Georges-Motel, near Eure, Normandy and the hôtel Marlborough, Paris, both of which they filled with exceptional French furniture and works of art of the ancien regime. Fleeing to America and Palm Beach in 1940, Colonel and Madame Balsan continued to surround themselves with the jewels of their collection.
These wall-lights are almost identical to the set of four in the following lot (lot 37), save for minor variations in casting and chasing, in particular the treatment of the channelled panel at the base, and the presence of nipples and a belly-button on this pair, which are not present on the set of four. Whilst it is not known when these wall-lights were acquired by the Balsan's prior to circa 1930 (when they are published in their collection), it is interesting to note that an apparently identical set of four to the following lot was sold from the aristocratic collection of Ernst, Graf zu Rantzau at Graupe, Berlin, 15 May 1931, lot 231 (illustrated overlay). All the pieces included in the Rantzau sale are thought to have been inherited family heirlooms, which could equally well have entered the family collections in the late 18th or 19th Centuries.
The unusual manner in which these wall-lights are chased and gilded in some parts to the reverse, as well as in part enclosed, together with the presence of screw-holes that would otherwise be redundant if the wall-lights were fixed directly onto the wall, suggests that these wall-lights originally had further elements secured to the reverse. Certainly J.-F. Forty's design of circa 1768 for a chandelier demonstrates how such female therm figures were incorporated into larger compositions.
Further wall-lights in this vein include a pair in the Wrightsman Collection (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection II Furniture Gilt Bronze and Mounted Porcelain Carpets, New York, 1966, no.231); another pair in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; and a final pair sold as part of the Sneyd Heirlooms, Christie's London, 26 June 1924.
MADAME JACQUES BALSAN
The daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont, Consuelo became a celebrated debutante at her parents' Newport residence, Marble House, where in August of 1895 she met Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. She married the Duke that autumn and returned to England to live at Blenheim Palace. She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920. The following summer she married the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan. Settling in France, they divided their time between the splendid 17th century Château de Saint-Georges-Motel, near Eure, Normandy and the hôtel Marlborough, Paris, both of which they filled with exceptional French furniture and works of art of the ancien regime. Fleeing to America and Palm Beach in 1940, Colonel and Madame Balsan continued to surround themselves with the jewels of their collection.