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Lot Essay
Claude Galle (1759-1815) 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 known 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.
Galle's pieces were acquired in great number by the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, which accounts for the significant number of Galle's pieces remaining in the many state palace museums of St. Petersburg today. Galle's designs influenced a generation of Russian craftsmen, such as Andrei Voronikhin (1759-1814) and Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822), who while taking their inspiration from Galle's prototypes, created their own uniquely Russian works of art.
The design for this vase by Claude Galle from 1819 can be found in Musée Industriel J.V. de Moléon and is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol II, p. 711, no. 30.
Galle's pieces were acquired in great number by the Russian Imperial family and aristocratic followers while on visits to Paris, which accounts for the significant number of Galle's pieces remaining in the many state palace museums of St. Petersburg today. Galle's designs influenced a generation of Russian craftsmen, such as Andrei Voronikhin (1759-1814) and Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822), who while taking their inspiration from Galle's prototypes, created their own uniquely Russian works of art.
The design for this vase by Claude Galle from 1819 can be found in Musée Industriel J.V. de Moléon and is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol II, p. 711, no. 30.