EARLY 19TH CENTURY

These fine candlesticks show an unusual interpretation of the Egyptian style which found such popularity after Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801. Aside from the main expeditionary force Napoleon took with him to Egypt 167 scientists, and a large number of artists to document the monuments and sights. The present pair differ from the more typical figural candlesticks of the Empire period. The flattened masks and explicit use of hieroglyphs as decorative scheme is reminiscent of the designs of Charles Morel for a bookcase illustrated in Denise Ledoux Lebard Ies Ébénistes du XIX Siècle, Paris 1984, pp. 498-499.