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拍品專文
André-Charles Boulle, Ebéniste, Ciseleur, doreur et Sculpteur du Roi, 1672-1732.
The C Coironné poinçon is a tax mark used on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749. it is fair to assume, therefore, that these candelabra were sold or on the market at that time - which may be when they were acquired for Wanstead.
These candelabra are almost certainly those described in the Wanstead sale as:-
'Lot 187 A MAGNIFICENT OR-MOULU CANDELABRA, WITH MASSIVE RAM'S-HEAD
SCROLL BRANCHES FOR FOUR LIGHTS, Richly gilt in Matted Gold, with Head and Leaf Ornaments, SUPPORTED BY SPHINXES, ON HOLLOW TRIANGULAR PLINTH AND FEET 21 INCHES HIGH
188 A DITTO'
There is no mention of them in the 1847 Inventories at either Wrotham or St. James's Square, the only reference to four-light candelabra being the '2 pair of ormolu 4-light candelabra supported by Bronze female figures on ormolu bases listed in the Back Drawing Room in St. James's Square'. Bearing in mind Miles prolific buying activity at Wanstead, it would seem convincing that these were a Miles purchase.
BOULLE'S GIRANDOLES À SPHINX ET TÊTES DE BELIERS
The girandole was a luxurious innovation in lighting which appeared in France circa 1650. It derives from the Italian girandola - a term used to describe the lighting effects caused by fireworks; indeed early girandoles are thickly mounted and hung with cut-glass and/or rock crystal pendants to enhance the glittering light effects of the candles. The manufacture of girandoles entirely in gilt-bronze was an innovation around the turn of the 18th century and they were prized more for their great sculptural quality than for the illumination which they provided.
Jean Bérain (1638-1711), who had trained under Charles le Brun, was appointed designer to Louis XIV in 1674 and he was widely regarded as the greatest authority in all matters regarding decoration; he designed tapestries, objects, furniture, even costumes and decorations for the opera, and his work inspired the decoration of rooms and furniture by cabinet-makers, notably that of his neighbour in the Louvre, André-Charles Boulle.
The present candelabra (girandoles à sphinx et têtes de beliers) are firmly attributed to André-Charles Boulle by Jean Nérée Ronfort ('André-Charles Boulle: die Bronzearbeiten und seine Werkstatt im Louvre'; H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. II, pp. 459-520), made after a design by Jean Bérain. Ronfort states that two versions are known with either four or five candle branches and cites a mid-18th century reference to a pair with four branches listed in the inventory taken after the death of Marin de la Haye in 1753:
'No. 187 ... deux grands girandoles au dessus de forme triangulaire é quatre bobèches, sure chacun des triangles desquels, le tout de cuivre doré d'or moulu, prisées ensemble 340 livres'
and
'No. 216 ... sur chacune desquelles est un chandelier triangulaire é quatre bobèches avec des sphinx sur chacun des triangles, le tout de cuive doré d'or moulu, prisées 680 livres.' (Ronfort, op.cit. p.503.)
Other 18th century references have been recorded, the earliest in 1724 from the inventory of the wife of the merchant T.J. Hébert:
'Une paire de girandoles à sphinx à trois branches et une bobèche au dessus chacune de bronze doré d'or moulu etc. 350l.'
In 1736, from the Inventory of the duc d'Antin:-
'deux girandoles à quatre bobèches chacune garnie de sphinx sur leur pied en triangle de cuivre doré d'or moulu..500 livres'
A later 18th century reference links the name of André-Charles Boulle as author of these girandoles: In 1776, in the collection of Blondel de Gagny at the château de Garges:
'quatre girandoles de Boulle á quatre lumiéres et sphinx de bronze doré d'or moulu... 220 livres.'
Examples of these girandoles were sold at auction in the 18th and 19th century as follows: In Paris, M. Poulain, 1780, no. 203, sold for 150 livres; In Paris, M. Clocher and M.D... 1789, Nr. 388 (with four branches); In Paris, M. Beaudouin, April 9 1793, two pairs nrs, 237 and 238.; In London, Christie's, Mr. Ralph Bernal, March 5, 1855, lot 42 (with five branches)
More recently, the following girandoles are recorded:
Collection of Baroness Cassel van Doorn, Paris, March 9, 1954, lot 58 (stamped with the Crowned C); Christie's London, March 17, 1960, lot 41; Sotheby's London, November 12, 1965, lot 6 (five branches); An identical pair of candelabra, sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 47, was subsequently with Kraemer, Paris, and appeared again in the Greenberg Collection, Sotheby's New York, 21 May 2004, lot 14 ($400,000); A set of four girandoles with four lights, formerly in the collection of the Duc d'Arenberg, with fluted baluster centers was on the Paris art market; A pair is conserved at Warwick Castle in England, and another is at Waddesdon Manor, illustrated, Geoffrey de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, Vol. II, pp. 684-685.
The C Coironné poinçon is a tax mark used on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749. it is fair to assume, therefore, that these candelabra were sold or on the market at that time - which may be when they were acquired for Wanstead.
These candelabra are almost certainly those described in the Wanstead sale as:-
'Lot 187 A MAGNIFICENT OR-MOULU CANDELABRA, WITH MASSIVE RAM'S-HEAD
SCROLL BRANCHES FOR FOUR LIGHTS, Richly gilt in Matted Gold, with Head and Leaf Ornaments, SUPPORTED BY SPHINXES, ON HOLLOW TRIANGULAR PLINTH AND FEET 21 INCHES HIGH
188 A DITTO'
There is no mention of them in the 1847 Inventories at either Wrotham or St. James's Square, the only reference to four-light candelabra being the '2 pair of ormolu 4-light candelabra supported by Bronze female figures on ormolu bases listed in the Back Drawing Room in St. James's Square'. Bearing in mind Miles prolific buying activity at Wanstead, it would seem convincing that these were a Miles purchase.
BOULLE'S GIRANDOLES À SPHINX ET TÊTES DE BELIERS
The girandole was a luxurious innovation in lighting which appeared in France circa 1650. It derives from the Italian girandola - a term used to describe the lighting effects caused by fireworks; indeed early girandoles are thickly mounted and hung with cut-glass and/or rock crystal pendants to enhance the glittering light effects of the candles. The manufacture of girandoles entirely in gilt-bronze was an innovation around the turn of the 18th century and they were prized more for their great sculptural quality than for the illumination which they provided.
Jean Bérain (1638-1711), who had trained under Charles le Brun, was appointed designer to Louis XIV in 1674 and he was widely regarded as the greatest authority in all matters regarding decoration; he designed tapestries, objects, furniture, even costumes and decorations for the opera, and his work inspired the decoration of rooms and furniture by cabinet-makers, notably that of his neighbour in the Louvre, André-Charles Boulle.
The present candelabra (girandoles à sphinx et têtes de beliers) are firmly attributed to André-Charles Boulle by Jean Nérée Ronfort ('André-Charles Boulle: die Bronzearbeiten und seine Werkstatt im Louvre'; H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. II, pp. 459-520), made after a design by Jean Bérain. Ronfort states that two versions are known with either four or five candle branches and cites a mid-18th century reference to a pair with four branches listed in the inventory taken after the death of Marin de la Haye in 1753:
'No. 187 ... deux grands girandoles au dessus de forme triangulaire é quatre bobèches, sure chacun des triangles desquels, le tout de cuivre doré d'or moulu, prisées ensemble 340 livres'
and
'No. 216 ... sur chacune desquelles est un chandelier triangulaire é quatre bobèches avec des sphinx sur chacun des triangles, le tout de cuive doré d'or moulu, prisées 680 livres.' (Ronfort, op.cit. p.503.)
Other 18th century references have been recorded, the earliest in 1724 from the inventory of the wife of the merchant T.J. Hébert:
'Une paire de girandoles à sphinx à trois branches et une bobèche au dessus chacune de bronze doré d'or moulu etc. 350l.'
In 1736, from the Inventory of the duc d'Antin:-
'deux girandoles à quatre bobèches chacune garnie de sphinx sur leur pied en triangle de cuivre doré d'or moulu..500 livres'
A later 18th century reference links the name of André-Charles Boulle as author of these girandoles: In 1776, in the collection of Blondel de Gagny at the château de Garges:
'quatre girandoles de Boulle á quatre lumiéres et sphinx de bronze doré d'or moulu... 220 livres.'
Examples of these girandoles were sold at auction in the 18th and 19th century as follows: In Paris, M. Poulain, 1780, no. 203, sold for 150 livres; In Paris, M. Clocher and M.D... 1789, Nr. 388 (with four branches); In Paris, M. Beaudouin, April 9 1793, two pairs nrs, 237 and 238.; In London, Christie's, Mr. Ralph Bernal, March 5, 1855, lot 42 (with five branches)
More recently, the following girandoles are recorded:
Collection of Baroness Cassel van Doorn, Paris, March 9, 1954, lot 58 (stamped with the Crowned C); Christie's London, March 17, 1960, lot 41; Sotheby's London, November 12, 1965, lot 6 (five branches); An identical pair of candelabra, sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 47, was subsequently with Kraemer, Paris, and appeared again in the Greenberg Collection, Sotheby's New York, 21 May 2004, lot 14 ($400,000); A set of four girandoles with four lights, formerly in the collection of the Duc d'Arenberg, with fluted baluster centers was on the Paris art market; A pair is conserved at Warwick Castle in England, and another is at Waddesdon Manor, illustrated, Geoffrey de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, Vol. II, pp. 684-685.