19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU PUTTI
19th Century
Representing Literature and Sculpture, one holding a hammer, the other a stylus, each with scant drapery, on later base
12 in. (29 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London; 9 July 1976, lot 22 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. K-13).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

It is very probable that these putti were originally intended to surmount chenets such as a Louis XV pair of chenets in the Wallace Collection, London (see P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection - Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, p. 1322-1326, no. F279 and F280). Those are attributed to Philippe Caffiéri (maître fondeur in 1756), probably using models of infants designed by his father Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755), and are dated circa 1765. This attribution is based on the similarity of the figures to those on a pedestal in the Louvre which are signed by Pierre Caffiéri (Catalogue, no. 394).
Related chenets were sold at Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1986, lot 264, and 24-25 November 1988, lot 91.

More from The Dr Anton C.R.Dreesmann Collection European Furniture

View All