A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU INKSTAND

CIRCA 1780, THE WELL AND CASSOLETTE CONFIGURATION ALTERED AND WITH REPLACEMENTS, ORIGINALLY WITH A FURTHER ORMOLU BASE

细节

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU INKSTAND
Circa 1780, the well and cassolette configuration altered and with replacements, originally with a further ormolu base
The rectangular base cast with berried laurel wreaths and acanthus, with a deep central recess and four inkwell; two with later flat covers, flanking a circular medallion engraved with a CL monogram, and two with covers cast as the bases of fluted columns, flanking an urn-shaped candle nozzle, cast with lion's heads and drapery swags, the sides are cast and chased with berried laurel and rosettes on four eagles with outspread wings, originally with two cassolettes flanking a central bell, the raised inkwell and sander now at the back originally at the front, the monogram possibly English
3¼in. (18.4cm.) high, 12in. (30.5cm), wide, 8¼in. (21cm.) deep

拍品专文

This encrier is one of four known; one with the arms of The House of Savoy and having a central flaming urn to the back and a platform base was sold from the André Meyer Collection, Christie's New York, 26 October 2002, lot 10 ($80,000). A closely related encrier undoubtedly executed in the same workshop and formerly in the the Wrightsman Collection, was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 30 October 1993, lot 272 ($85,000). Formerly in the collection of the marquis de Galard, it is no doubt of identical design to the original form of this inkstand before its alteration; having two flaming urns centered by a bell, and the raised compartments for ink and sand to the front, however lacking a monogram. The fourth encrier is in a private French collection. A number of neo-classical motifs, notably the eagle supports and the flaming-urns, first appear in the designs of the architect Victor Louis and the maître-sculpteur Jean-Louis Prieur for Stanislas-Augustus, King of Poland in 1765-1766 (see S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, 1974, pp. 352, 390-1, pl. 205, 209). For that Royal commission, Prieur and Philippe Caffiéri seem to have enjoyed the lion's-share of subsequent contracts, which lasted from 1766 into the early 1770's.