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Lot Essay
These spectacular brûle-parfums, undoubtedly commissioned by a marchand-mercier, reflect the influence of Dominique Daguerre. Designed in the Louis XVI 'antique' manner, they correspond closely to the taste favored by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV at Carlton House under the joint influence of his architect Henry Holland and Daguerre. The heir to Simon-Philippe Poirier's atelier, Daguerre specialized in supplying objets de luxe to the French Court and, after the Revolution in 1789, to the English nobility, including the 5th Duke of Bedford for Woburn Abbey and the Earl Spencer for Althorp House, Northamptonshire. Establishing a shop in Piccadilly, London circa 1780, in 1786 he signed an agreement with Josiah Wedgwood for the exclusive rights to sell Wedgwood's jasperware in France, and he turned to the bronzier François Rémond and ébénistes such as Adam Weisweiler and C.C. Saunier to produce refined neoclassical works.
DAGUERRE'S FOREIGN CLIENTELE
Daguerre particularly specialized in a foreign clientele, perhaps partly as a result of reduced patronage in France in the Revolutionary years. It is interesting that other examples of this model, some with upper sections in the form of candelabra, were evidently sold to foreign clients, as examples are recorded in the Palace of Pavlovsk (Daguerre's Russian connections were well established following the visit to his shop in Paris in 1782 of the 'Comte and Comtesse du Nord', the future Empress Maria Feodorovna and her husband Paul), in the collection of the Dukes of Norfolk at Carlton Towers, Yorkshire, which were possibly acquired by Stephen Tempest on a Grand Tour in 1818 (sold Sotheby's, London, 4 November 2009, lot 108, where catalogued as 19th Century) and at Schloss Ludwigslust, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the daughter of Emperor Paul and Empress Maria Feodorovna, had married Friedrich Ludwig, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1799, and their principal residence was Ludwigslust). A further pair is in a private collection.
POSSIBLE DESIGN SOURCE
Although the architect or ornemaniste responsible for the design of these brûle-parfums remains untraced, similar winged-mermaid terms or sirens and fruiting elongated vases can be seen on the celebrated giltwood console table by Georges Jacob in the Musée du Louvre (B.G.B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. II, pp. 136 - 137, fig. 45). Probably designed by either François-Joseph Bélanger or Jean-Demosthéne Dugourc, the Louvre table was supplied for the comte d'Artois' cabinet Turc at Versailles in 1781. As Pallot concluded, the sirens were emblematic of vice, whilst the fruiting cornucopiae represented abundance. Interestingly, the d'Artois table originally had fourteen gilt-bronze balls dividing the marble from the stand, which were supplied by François Rémond in late 1781.
THE MOUNTS: DUPLESSIS OR REMOND?
The exceptional quality of the mounts on these brûles-parfums relates to the oeuvres of both Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan Duplessis and François Rémond.
DUPLESSIS
The association with the architect François-Joseph Bélanger is perhaps underlined by his work for the fermier-général Laurent Grimod de la Reyniére at his hôtel in the rue Boissy Anglais, Paris. Two pairs of candelabra almost certainly designed by Bélanger and illustrated by the Polish architect Kamzeter in 1782 in an elevation of the salon originally designed by Clérisseau share certain distinctive characteristics. In particular, the pierced scrolling arabesque rinceaux frieze of the brûles-parfums is very close in character to that on the candelabra now in the Dodge Collection (T. Dell, The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth Century French and English Art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1996, pp. 134 - 138), while the unusual pineapple finial also featured in this same commission on the pair of candelabra sold from the collection of Léonce Melchior de Vogüé, Christie's, Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 82. Both these latter pairs of candelabra are known to have been the work of the fondeur-ciseleur Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan Duplessis (c. 1730 - 1783).
REMOND
François Rémond (1747 - 1812) was one of the preeminent bronziers of his era. Appointed maître-doreur in 1774 his rise was meteoric, having the fourth highest capitalisation amongst some eight hundred other bronziers in Paris by 1786. He worked as a fondeur and ciseleur, as well as a doreur and thus was able to exercise considerable artistic control over his output. In particular, he worked extensively for Daguerre, for whom he supplied work valued at the staggering sum of 920,000 livres between 1778 and 1792.
THE BERWINDS AND THE ELMS
The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds engaged Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer to design a house modeled after the mid-18th century French château d'Asnières outside Paris. Construction of The Elms was completed in 1901 at a cost reported at approximately $1.4 million. The interiors and furnishings were designed by Allard and Sons of Paris and were the setting for the Berwinds' collection of European decorative arts and paintings. Mrs. Berwind died in 1922, and Mr. Berwind invited his sister, Julia, to become his hostess at his New York and Newport houses. Mr. Berwind died in 1936 and Miss Julia continued to summer at The Elms until her death in 1961, at which time the house and most of its contents were sold at public auction. The Preservation Society of Newport County purchased The Elms in 1962 and opened the house to the public.
DAGUERRE'S FOREIGN CLIENTELE
Daguerre particularly specialized in a foreign clientele, perhaps partly as a result of reduced patronage in France in the Revolutionary years. It is interesting that other examples of this model, some with upper sections in the form of candelabra, were evidently sold to foreign clients, as examples are recorded in the Palace of Pavlovsk (Daguerre's Russian connections were well established following the visit to his shop in Paris in 1782 of the 'Comte and Comtesse du Nord', the future Empress Maria Feodorovna and her husband Paul), in the collection of the Dukes of Norfolk at Carlton Towers, Yorkshire, which were possibly acquired by Stephen Tempest on a Grand Tour in 1818 (sold Sotheby's, London, 4 November 2009, lot 108, where catalogued as 19th Century) and at Schloss Ludwigslust, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the daughter of Emperor Paul and Empress Maria Feodorovna, had married Friedrich Ludwig, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1799, and their principal residence was Ludwigslust). A further pair is in a private collection.
POSSIBLE DESIGN SOURCE
Although the architect or ornemaniste responsible for the design of these brûle-parfums remains untraced, similar winged-mermaid terms or sirens and fruiting elongated vases can be seen on the celebrated giltwood console table by Georges Jacob in the Musée du Louvre (B.G.B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. II, pp. 136 - 137, fig. 45). Probably designed by either François-Joseph Bélanger or Jean-Demosthéne Dugourc, the Louvre table was supplied for the comte d'Artois' cabinet Turc at Versailles in 1781. As Pallot concluded, the sirens were emblematic of vice, whilst the fruiting cornucopiae represented abundance. Interestingly, the d'Artois table originally had fourteen gilt-bronze balls dividing the marble from the stand, which were supplied by François Rémond in late 1781.
THE MOUNTS: DUPLESSIS OR REMOND?
The exceptional quality of the mounts on these brûles-parfums relates to the oeuvres of both Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan Duplessis and François Rémond.
DUPLESSIS
The association with the architect François-Joseph Bélanger is perhaps underlined by his work for the fermier-général Laurent Grimod de la Reyniére at his hôtel in the rue Boissy Anglais, Paris. Two pairs of candelabra almost certainly designed by Bélanger and illustrated by the Polish architect Kamzeter in 1782 in an elevation of the salon originally designed by Clérisseau share certain distinctive characteristics. In particular, the pierced scrolling arabesque rinceaux frieze of the brûles-parfums is very close in character to that on the candelabra now in the Dodge Collection (T. Dell, The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth Century French and English Art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1996, pp. 134 - 138), while the unusual pineapple finial also featured in this same commission on the pair of candelabra sold from the collection of Léonce Melchior de Vogüé, Christie's, Monaco, 19 June 1999, lot 82. Both these latter pairs of candelabra are known to have been the work of the fondeur-ciseleur Jean-Claude-Thomas Chambellan Duplessis (c. 1730 - 1783).
REMOND
François Rémond (1747 - 1812) was one of the preeminent bronziers of his era. Appointed maître-doreur in 1774 his rise was meteoric, having the fourth highest capitalisation amongst some eight hundred other bronziers in Paris by 1786. He worked as a fondeur and ciseleur, as well as a doreur and thus was able to exercise considerable artistic control over his output. In particular, he worked extensively for Daguerre, for whom he supplied work valued at the staggering sum of 920,000 livres between 1778 and 1792.
THE BERWINDS AND THE ELMS
The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds engaged Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer to design a house modeled after the mid-18th century French château d'Asnières outside Paris. Construction of The Elms was completed in 1901 at a cost reported at approximately $1.4 million. The interiors and furnishings were designed by Allard and Sons of Paris and were the setting for the Berwinds' collection of European decorative arts and paintings. Mrs. Berwind died in 1922, and Mr. Berwind invited his sister, Julia, to become his hostess at his New York and Newport houses. Mr. Berwind died in 1936 and Miss Julia continued to summer at The Elms until her death in 1961, at which time the house and most of its contents were sold at public auction. The Preservation Society of Newport County purchased The Elms in 1962 and opened the house to the public.