Lot Essay
These candelabra relate to a design by the architect Charles Percier as part of a commission to furnish the Bedchamber of Impératrice Joséphine's at the château de Saint-Cloud (ill. in M.L. Myers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1991, pp. 157-160, cat. 98).
Candelabra of this model have been related to the oeuvres of foremost bronziers such as Pierre Victor Ledure - to whom Ottomeyer and Pröschel attribute a virtually identical pair now in the Residenz Elligen, Germany (ill. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 391, fig. 5.17.4) - but also to Pierre-Philippe Thomire or to Claude Galle, who delivered a closely related pair for the Petit Trianon in 1809 (ill. D. Ledoux-Lebard, Versailles, le Petit Trianon, Paris, 1989, p.105, no.149). Closely related examples sold at auction include a pair sold at Sotheby's, Amsterdam, "The Toebosch Collection", 11 April 2005, lot 185.
Candelabra of this model have been related to the oeuvres of foremost bronziers such as Pierre Victor Ledure - to whom Ottomeyer and Pröschel attribute a virtually identical pair now in the Residenz Elligen, Germany (ill. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 391, fig. 5.17.4) - but also to Pierre-Philippe Thomire or to Claude Galle, who delivered a closely related pair for the Petit Trianon in 1809 (ill. D. Ledoux-Lebard, Versailles, le Petit Trianon, Paris, 1989, p.105, no.149). Closely related examples sold at auction include a pair sold at Sotheby's, Amsterdam, "The Toebosch Collection", 11 April 2005, lot 185.