ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE

This striking pair of candlesticks is identical to three pairs delivered by Claude Galle to Fontainebleau, two in 1804 and one in 1805. One pair remains at Fontainebleau, stamped with the inventory number 'F 3527'. The first two pairs were delivered by Galle in November 1804 and were described as '2 paires de flambeaux dorés or mat têtes de génies', at a cost of 380 francs. The third pair, described as 'grand model', was delivered in 1805 at a cost of 200 francs, which was later reduced to 190. In 1807 one pair was recorded in the deuxième salon de l'Empereur, while the other two were in the salon de l'Impératrice. By 1810, two pairs had been moved to the salle du Trône, and one was in the deuxième salon de l'Impératrice. One pair left Fontainebleau in 1871, and another in 1898. However, in the absence of any inventory numbers on these examples, it is not possible to ascertain whether they are either of the two missing pairs (see J.P. Samoyault, Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau: Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 193, Cat. 179).