ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

These elegant candlesticks can be attributed to Claude Galle (d. 1815), one of the foremost bronziers and fondeur-ciseleurs of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods. With their distinctive ‘aigle’ motif at the top of the stem and leaf-cast base, they are a variant of two examples supplied by Galle to the Palais de Fontainebleau in 1804, which were part of the extensive deliveries of gilt-bronze bronze d’ ameublement by Galle to the palace, taking place between 1804 and 1810 (J.-P. Samoyault, ‘Pendules et bronze d’ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire’, Paris, 1989, nos. 155-156, pp. 175-176). Galle would continue to supply precious gilt-bronze objects to all the Imperial residences including Saint-Cloud, the Trianons, Rambouillet, Tuilleries and Compiègne.