CIRCA 1785

細節

A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU AND CARRARA MARBLE THREE-BRANCH CANDELABRA
CIRCA 1785
Each with a classically draped female figure holding aloft a cornucopia issuing three candle branches and a central berried and floral vine, on a cylindrical base with ribbon-tied vines, on square plinths, later fitted for electricity, with six pleated silk shades
35 in. (89 cm.) high (2)

注意事項

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拍品專文

Lyric poetry and ancient harvest festivals are evoked, in Louis seize fashion, by fruit and flower filled horns-of-plenty or cornucopiae borne by vestal attendants standing on vine-wreathed altar-drums. Related Roman-bronze figured candelabra of the 1780s furnished the chateau de Pau in the 19th century before their 1901 transferral from the Mobilier National to the Louvre (see D. Alcouffe et al, Gilt bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, no. 90).

The basic design of the draped nymph on these candelabra recalls the drawing from 1761 by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (see H.Ottomeyer, P.Proschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 254, fig. 4.7.1). The design depicts two pairs of plaster models of figures supporting candelabra which were exhibited at the Salon du Louvre in 1761 by Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791), Director of the Sculpture studio at Sèvres (1759-1766). A number of similar examples follow Falconet's design, such as the three-light lily candelabra supported by draped nymphs which are conserved in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (SZM 407/3-4) (ibid., p. 254, fig. 4.7.3).