ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU CANDLESTICKS
ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each with later drip-pan, hexagonal nozzle, cast with flaming torch and flowering vase above a canopy and tapering hexagonal column with reeded chevron pattern, above a spreading drapery foot with ball feet
10½ in. (26.5 cm.) high (2)

Special notice

This lot will be sold under the Alpha scheme. If you are an EU Purchaser, there is effectively no change: VAT is charged at 17.5% on the buyer''s premium ONLY on a VAT inclusive basis. VAT is accounted for under the auctioneer''s margin scheme. If you are a non-EU Purchaser: VAT, at 17.5%, will be payable on both the hammer price and the buyer''s premium. VAT on the hammer will be refunded upon receipt of export documentation by the VAT department. Non-EU trading businesses can receive a further VAT refund on the buyer''s premium directly from HM Revenue and Customs.

Lot Essay

The shape of the nozzles, waisted socle and spreading drapery base seen on this elegant pair of candlesticks relate to three pairs of candlesticks of the same model supplied by Galle for the Palace of Fontainebleau between 1804 and 1805. Two pairs were supplied on '28 brumaire an XVIII' (19 November 1804), costing 380 fr. The third pair was supplied on '25 messidor an XVIII' (15 July 1805) costing 196 fr. (Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Pendules et Bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Musée national du Fontainebleau, 1989, Paris, p. 193, fig. 179). In 1807, one pair was in the Second Salon of Emperor Napoleon and the other two pairs in the Salon of Empress Josephine.

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