THE MOUNTS POSSIBLY GERMAN, CIRCA 1735-40, THE PORCELAIN QIANLONG PERIOD (1735-95), THE FRENCH PORCELAIN FLOWERS 18TH CENTURY, SOME POSSIBLY LATER

These charming candelabra embody the passion for innovation and the mysteries of the East in the imaginative and precious objets d'art created by the marchands-merciers of Paris in the 1740's and 1750's. The marchands-merciers, the luxury goods dealers in Paris, were one of the most significant conduits through which the rococo style was expressed, as they alone either had unrivalled access to or a monopoly on the trade in the luxury imported goods from the East such as lacquers and porcelains which were so important to this style. Thus Thomas-Joachim Hébert is credited with the idea of mounting furniture with lacquer panels, including the first delivery of a lacquer commode to Versailles in 1737, while Lazare Duvaux, the favourite dealer of Mme de Pompadour, herself a passionate collector of Oriental porcelain, supplied extensive amounts of ormolu-mounted porcelains in the 1740's and 1750's, both to the court and to connoisseur collectors such as Louis-Jean Gaignat, the sale of whose collection in 1769 included a number of superb pieces of mounted porcelain. The fascination with the East among the German rulers of the time is also well-documented and the distinctive design of the naturalistic bases of these candelabra could point to a German origin. A pair of related candelabra, but with seated stags, in the Residenz, Munich is illustrated in E. Bierende, 'Glanz und Pracht; Ostasiatisches Porzellan in den Reichen Zimmern der Münchner Residenz', Weltkunst, July 2002, p. 1022.