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Lot Essay
Designed in the Louis XV 'pittoresque' style, these superbly chased and gilt chenets can be attributed to the sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du Roi Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755), possibly with the assistance of his son, Philippe (1714-1774). An identical pair was sold by King Umberto of Italy, Christie’s London, 4 December 1969, lot 37. The latter had Royal inventory marks ‘CR’, ‘CI. 1586’ and ‘DC. 9367’ and had descended in the House of Savoy since the mid-18th Century. This pair was subsequently sold, Sotheby’s Paris, 5 May 2015, lot 180. Interestingly, the inventory compiled on Caffieri’s death in 1755, lists as n°118 ‘Item une autre garniture de grille de cheminée complète représentant des perroquets, 200 L’, possibly corresponding to the present example (D. Alcouffe dans les Archives de l'Art Français, 1989, tome XXX, pp.125-142). This model must have been relatively new in 1755 as it does not appear in the lists of models complied in 1747, when his son joined his business.
The Royal Italian chenets were originally part of an extraordinary extensive and precious group of furnishings and fineries, including bronzes d’ameublement, supplied to Madame Infante, Louise-Elizabeth of France, duchesse de Parma for the Palazzo di Colorno following on from her second trip to Paris between September 1752 and September 1753. This group also included a set of four wall-lights, again by Caffieri, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, no.168, p,103).
Whilst Madame Infante is known to have purchased much directly from the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, as well as from the ciseleur, doreur sur métaux du Roy Antoine Lelièvre, it was Caffiéri who was most extensively patronised on this commission. Both the aforementioned chenets and wall-lights are decorated with a pierced guilloche motif which was apparently an important and integral part of Caffieri’s signature style. As Peter Hughes has argued in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture III, London, 1996, no.266, pp.1310-1315, some of the gilt-bronze items in the ‘Colorno group’ may actually originally have been commissioned by Louis XV for his own use a few years before and given by him to his eldest daughter; this hypothesis is based particularly upon the ormolu chandelier, also from Colorno and decorated with large pierced guilloche motifs throughout, now in the Wallace, which is signed and dated CAFFIERI A PARIS 1751 and was, therefore, commissioned before their arrival in Paris. Alternatively, these chandeliers may have already been in preparation prior to the duchesse’s visit due to the complexity of their manufacture, enormity of commission and the imminence of the shipment.
The Royal Italian chenets were originally part of an extraordinary extensive and precious group of furnishings and fineries, including bronzes d’ameublement, supplied to Madame Infante, Louise-Elizabeth of France, duchesse de Parma for the Palazzo di Colorno following on from her second trip to Paris between September 1752 and September 1753. This group also included a set of four wall-lights, again by Caffieri, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, no.168, p,103).
Whilst Madame Infante is known to have purchased much directly from the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, as well as from the ciseleur, doreur sur métaux du Roy Antoine Lelièvre, it was Caffiéri who was most extensively patronised on this commission. Both the aforementioned chenets and wall-lights are decorated with a pierced guilloche motif which was apparently an important and integral part of Caffieri’s signature style. As Peter Hughes has argued in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture III, London, 1996, no.266, pp.1310-1315, some of the gilt-bronze items in the ‘Colorno group’ may actually originally have been commissioned by Louis XV for his own use a few years before and given by him to his eldest daughter; this hypothesis is based particularly upon the ormolu chandelier, also from Colorno and decorated with large pierced guilloche motifs throughout, now in the Wallace, which is signed and dated CAFFIERI A PARIS 1751 and was, therefore, commissioned before their arrival in Paris. Alternatively, these chandeliers may have already been in preparation prior to the duchesse’s visit due to the complexity of their manufacture, enormity of commission and the imminence of the shipment.