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Lot Essay
With their finely-chased gilt-bronze elements set against their dark patinated bodies, these striking ewers exemplify the creative oeuvre of the celebrated Parisian bronzier Claude Galle (1759-1815) and the international résonnance of his innovative production.
Galle was amongst the greatest bronziers and fondeur-ciseleurs of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods. First patronised by the Garde Meuble de la Couronne under Jean d'Heure from 1786-1788, he is recorded to have collaborated, amongst others, with Pierre-Philipe Thomire and was responsible for much of the bronzes d'ameublement supplied to the château de Fontainebleau during the Empire period.
The rich profusion of distinctive gilt-bronze ornaments, ranging from the flaming torcheres, lyres, butterflies, and griffins, relate the present ewers to the oeuvre of Galle as illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen: Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus, Munich, 1986, pp. 363-365. Interestingly, the Etruscan bearded frowning masks to the spouts recall those used on Russian chandeliers illustrated in I. Sychev, The Russian chandeliers, 1760-1830, P.V.B.R., 2003, pp.164-5, figs. 777-781, 789-90.
Galle's works of art were acquired in great number by the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, which accounts for the large quantity of works still in the state palace museums of St. Petersburg to this day. While Galle produced a signicant number of works of art destined to the Russian market, his avant-garde designs also influenced a generation of local craftsmen who, while taking their inspiration from his prototypes, created their own uniquely Russian oeuvres d'art. Amongst these, Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822) who ranks amongst the most skilled bronziers of the time, and worked extensively for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg, often to designs by the renowned dessinateur Andrei Voronikhin (1760-1814).
An important pair of candelabra related to the present lot, also most probably executed by Galle for the Russian market and featuring some of Galle's signature marine motifs, is illustrated in A. Gaydamak, Russian Empire: Architecture, Decorative and Applied Arts, Interior Decoration 1800-1830, Moscow, 2000, p. 177.
Galle was amongst the greatest bronziers and fondeur-ciseleurs of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods. First patronised by the Garde Meuble de la Couronne under Jean d'Heure from 1786-1788, he is recorded to have collaborated, amongst others, with Pierre-Philipe Thomire and was responsible for much of the bronzes d'ameublement supplied to the château de Fontainebleau during the Empire period.
The rich profusion of distinctive gilt-bronze ornaments, ranging from the flaming torcheres, lyres, butterflies, and griffins, relate the present ewers to the oeuvre of Galle as illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen: Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus, Munich, 1986, pp. 363-365. Interestingly, the Etruscan bearded frowning masks to the spouts recall those used on Russian chandeliers illustrated in I. Sychev, The Russian chandeliers, 1760-1830, P.V.B.R., 2003, pp.164-5, figs. 777-781, 789-90.
Galle's works of art were acquired in great number by the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, which accounts for the large quantity of works still in the state palace museums of St. Petersburg to this day. While Galle produced a signicant number of works of art destined to the Russian market, his avant-garde designs also influenced a generation of local craftsmen who, while taking their inspiration from his prototypes, created their own uniquely Russian oeuvres d'art. Amongst these, Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822) who ranks amongst the most skilled bronziers of the time, and worked extensively for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg, often to designs by the renowned dessinateur Andrei Voronikhin (1760-1814).
An important pair of candelabra related to the present lot, also most probably executed by Galle for the Russian market and featuring some of Galle's signature marine motifs, is illustrated in A. Gaydamak, Russian Empire: Architecture, Decorative and Applied Arts, Interior Decoration 1800-1830, Moscow, 2000, p. 177.